Heirs
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: the sage of the sixth paths had known what was coming long before he took his last breath.That was why he chose two heirs to carry on his work. one was a knuckle headed ninja, meant to be a great leader of man.now with a new chap 37 kak/naru/fem
1. Chapter 1

Eeiry pale blue eyes stared out into the unfathomable darkness, seeing all that was in existence and all that ever would be.

This was his joy. The last fleeting moments that he could share with his children before he died.

He wanted to know that they would survive without him. And at the same time he wanted to find an heir that would someday surpass him. He could see the people, the lives they would create together. They all had such potential! They all held such power and cunning and strength.

And_ their_ children would contain such light and beauty.

Pale lips curved up into a smile.

Yes, they all had so very much potential. But he could only choose _two_ to balance the scales of power.

He saw a bright and shining light as great as the sun at the end of a dark tunnel. It was dazzling and blinding and...awe inspiring as he caught sight of two people in particular.

Direct descendants of him.

One was a male, about sixteen or seventeen with light tan skin and azure blue eyes and spiky blond hair. A jinchuriki like himself. A sage.

His aura was brilliant, and clear and beautiful. Untainted by hatred and desire.

Pale lips breathed his name._ "Naruto...Namikazi..." _

He would be a great leader of man. A child born of sorrow and hatred, yet would show the world such a deep and enduring love. He would be one of his heirs. He would help bring about an end to the shinobi world and usher forth a new world.

Now to see the other. His blue eyes flickered to the one standing behind Naruto, his son. His heir. And blinked before he laughed. _Oh_ wouldn't that be an interesting twist?

The second aura was a silver white wrapped around a young woman about the same age with piercing violet eyes and mid back length red and fuisha colored hair. A modern female who had seen the best and the worst of all man kind.

She knew the depravity of man, she had lived in the heart of darkness yet had gained such strength from it. She was fierce and clever and would see the darkness gathering and know how to counter it and protect his children.

_Shay Sasha Circe-_

Would make an excellent second heir to his blood line considering that she carried with in her one of his blood line limits. The power of prophecy.

Coupled with Naruto's power they would be an invincible team.

_Their enemy-_

_And his-_

Madara Uchiha wouldn't stand a chance.

He laughed again, this time harder. His amused laughter carrying with it a sense of foreboding that would pass through the ages and reach Madara's ears as his laughter died down and he lay back on his bed. Completely at peace with his choices and with the world, he whispered a short message for his heirs before he died.

_Give him no quarter. _

_Give him hell.  
_


	2. Chapter 2

Narutoverse

Konoha Village 2009-

The devastation wrought by Pein when he had attacked the village had been staggering. He had thought so before, and still thought so now.

It had been two weeks since the incident with Pein and like everyone else, Naruto was doing his part to help keep the moral of the villagers and his comrades up while trying to help rebuild the village. But it was a difficult task with Tsunade in a coma, and with so many people to laid up with wounds and such it was made even _more _difficult.

Naruto walked along the endless rows of tents, the emergency housing provided to both the shinobi and the civilians of the village who had lost their homes, and stopped just outside of Tsunade's tent. His azure blue eyes staring at the elderly woman's tent with a blank expression on his face. His heart aching in his chest.

_I hope granny wakes up soon..._ He thought soberly before he turned and started walking on and stopped when he saw Kakashi standing in his way with an sober look on her masked face. His visible blue eye studying the younger man in front of him for a second before he smiled. "Yo, Naruto. What have you been up too?" The copy nin asked as his former student as he walked over to him and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"A little bit of this. A little bit of that. What about you Kakashi-sensei?"

The copy nin shrugged, not really wanting to answer since it meant Naruto and inevitably Sakura finding out that he had temporarily rejoined Anbu and had been taking extra dangerous missions to help bring in more money to help the village out. "Not much. I've been competing with Gai mostly-"

It wasn't exactly a _lie_ since Gai had re joined Anbu with him. But it still wasn't really the truth either.

Naruto chuckled before asking. "Really? What's the score?"

Kakashi got a thoughtful look on his face. "Nine hundred and nine. To...nine hundred and seven I believe." Naruto laughed a little bit.

"So your still ahead?"

"Not really-" Kakashi said as he lifted one hand to rub the back of his neck. "He's been kicking my ass at janken."

"Really? That sucks." Naruto said as he studied the silver haired nin. He hadn't seen him around much lately. And while he knew that the man had a bad tendency to run off at any opportune time, he had never really known him to stay missing for very long. But he had noticed a pattern.

Kakashi tended to disappear every other day or so and come back anywhere from three days to a whole week later. Which meant that he had re joined Anbu or something. Which meant that Naruto shouldn't ask any more questions about what Kakashi had been up too unless the copy nin felt like saying something.

"Have you seen Sakura?" Kakashi asked curiously as Naruto started walking again forcing Kakashi to turn around and follow him if he wanted to exchange words with the young man. Naruto made a humming sound and nodded his head. He had seen Sakura earlier and had sat with her for a little bit and talked with her.

"Yeah. Earlier today."

"What did she have to say about things?"

"Not much of anything. She's been taking care of the wounded, and baa-chan. Running errands and stuff-" Kakashi made a humming sound as he listened to Naruto talk on. "She's been helping me duck the fan girls and from time to time we meet up with Yamoto-san and Sai and train for a little bit."

"Thats good."

"Yeah. Just because the village is down on it's luck is no reason to be lazy. We train every morning or so at about six and again on the weekends before we go do work-" Naruto stopped talking when he felt Kakashi's gloved hand on his nape, the older man's blunt nails running through his semi long hair, combing out the tangles.

"Naruto. You don't have to try so hard to force yourself. I know that your worried about Tsunade-sama. And everyone else, but you don't need too. We are strong. We'll get past this and be better for it." Kakashi said gently, knowing that Naruto had entered the conversation with him out of politeness even though his heart wasn't really in it.

Naruto tipped his head back and looked at him for a second, a pained expression crossing his face before he blanked it and looked away so that Kakashi wouldn't see just how bothered the younger man was by the current state of things.

He probably blamed himself for not being in the village sooner.

He shouldn't.

Because without him the _village_ wouldn't have survived. The _people_ wouldn't have survived.


	3. Chapter 3

The real world

2011 Manhattan-

Shay Sasha Circe walked down the street of Manhattan wearing a black fur lined soft fax leather jacket over a white knit cotton shirt, a pair of jeans, and a pair of boots with wide three inch heels. Her long red hair hung loosely around her face and shoulders. Her violet eyes staring blankly ahead as she weaved her way around the other people walking on the crowded side walk.

She was on her way to the corner drug store. Then she was off to the therapist to tell him that she was _seeing_ things, and _dreaming_ about those eerie blue eyes and the man with the horns and spiky hair.

She stopped at the corner and stuffed delicately boned hands in her pants pockets and looked around for cars before she started crossing. Her mind going over the events of the past few days as she reached the other side of the street and turned left along the cafe and walked along the small row of cars parked along the side walk and caught her reflection in one of the glass windows and stopped walking.

God she looked like she was about to fall apart. Her skin was too pale, she had dark bruise like smudges under her wide violet eyes, her hair, though neatly brushed still looked wild to her. She stared at reflection and was barely able to recognise herself.

She reached up to run her fingers through her hair and was hit by the sudden urge to wretch and quickly dropped down beside someones glossy midnight blue jag and puked just like she had been doing for the past two weeks since finding out that her period was late.

Which was why she was going to the corner store.

She needed to know for sure if she _was_ or _wasn't_ expecting. Then once she knew she could plan accordingly. Which meant having herself taken off of her meds and making doctor's appointments and contacting the father-

She visably cringed as an image of Miki's yelling face entered her mind and shook her head was no way that she was going to call that son of a bitch and let him know that he was going to be a father. Not after the way he had knocked her around that last time before she had kicked his ass and put him in the hospital.

No after the way he had beaten her, she figured that their child (if there was one) would be better off with her since she wasn't likely to lose her patience with it and knock it through a wall just for fun.

She stood up and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and sighed tiredly before she stood up and started to walk again when something hit her in the back, right in between her shoulders causing her to hiss and turn around as a small green paper back book hit the side walk at her feet.

_What the hell?_ She wondered as she stared at it, her eyes flickering across the title.

Tales of a Gutsy Ninja

_Uh-huh..._ She thought as she looked around for any signs of the person that the book might belong too. She didn't bother looking up since it wasn't likely that the book could have hit her between the shoulders from one of the loft apartments above her head unless she had still been on her knees or bent over or something like that. Which meant that someone had thrown it at her.

She frowned as she scanned the side walk and looked back down at the book. There was no one one the side walk right now aside from her. So where the hell had the book come from? And why had it hit her?

She started to reach down and pick it up but hesitated when the hairs on the back of her neck started to stand on end and a peculiar feeling came over her as the front of the book flipped open to the first page and she saw the words.

_His name was Naruto Uzumaki. _

_He was an imposing figure standing proudly among the people of his village. His blond hair swaying slightly in the breeze as he smiled at one of his friends- _

"Naruto? Uzumaki?" For some strange reason the name nagged at her mind, sounding familiar yet unfamiliar all at once. Almost like something seen or heard in some far off dream. She blinked at the book and picked it up and ran her index finger over the name before it pulsed-

Yes. _Pulsed_.

As in honest to god, almost as if she were holding a human heart in her hand and it had just pulsed. Startled she yelped and dropped the book as the pages started to glow a soft white. She stared at the book with a growing sense of dread and slowly took one step back and screamed when it jumped up from the ground to about her eye level and the covers started snapping open and closed over and over again.

"What the hell-"

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Alright. This seems t be a decent story.

I like it.

So just sit tight and let me get this out.


	4. Chapter 4

"What the hell-" She yelped as she took several steps back away from the levitating and snapping book and stepped right into someone who had come up behind her. She jerked and started to turn around to say something then a hand reached out and grabbed the book out of thin air and closed it.

"Maa, your shorter than I thought you would be-" The person said in an amused, smooth sounding octane voice as a large hand settled on top of her head, stilling all motion from her. "But I suppose that allowances must be made. Although I hadn't foreseen anything about the little one inside of you. Not that it matters much since you'll be well cared for and coveted as a descendant of Cassandra." The person said as she managed to tip her head back to look at them.

Standing right behind her was a man in his early thirties with peculiar eerie blue eyes, mid back length spiky strawberry blond hair. Her eyes widened a little bit as her eyes met his, and he smiled as she paled a little bit.

"W-W-What-" She stuttered in shock. Her mind abuzz with questions like, Who are you? Why have I been having visions about you? Why are you here? Aren't you dead?

"Uh-uh-" He said as he lifted his other hand and placed his index finger against her mouth and grinned when her eyes got as big as saucers. "No questions. Not yet anyways. I don't have the energy to answer them right now."

"Then why are you here?" Shay asked after a second or so when she was finally able to think strait.

The man gave her a small smile. Choosing not to tell her that he had managed to seal a small part of his own soul in the book that she held for the sole purpose of sending her to the other world before his enemy could reach her and kill her. "I'm going to send you on a holiday-"

"H-Huh?"

"Hold on and just let me focus for a second. I need to awaken your blood line limit a little more _before_ I send you on your way-" The man said cheerfully as an icy sliver of fear crawled down her spine. Just what the did he mean by 'send'?

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Naruto walked into his tent and stripped off his jacket and head band and flopped down on his cot and sighed tiredly. His conversation with Kakashi had taken more out of him than he had thought. It was a pain really, especially since he had tried so hard to hide his thoughts on the destruction of the village. Among other things.

Yet Kakashi was able to read him so damn easily.

He hated it when someone looked at him and then said stuff like that to comfort him. He didn't think that he _deserved _to be comforted since everything that had happened to the village was technically his fault.

His fault for being the village _jinchiriki_.

His fault for _existing_.

He mumbled something under his breath and hugged the pillow and closed his eyes. He was too tired to dwell on this shit anymore today. He'd grab a few hours of sleep then start dwelling on it all over again.

Yeah that sounded like a plan.

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Madara Uchiha sat in the loft apartment belonging to the descendant of Cassandra.

His one visible eye a deep crimson and narrowed under his mask in irritation.

_Where was she?_ He had been back and forth in his world and in this one looking for her. And had finally found her a week ago when she had been out grocery shopping. He knew about the girl's ability, that she was an heir to the great sage's blood line.

That she contained several very important and powerful blood line limits that he couldn't afford to let her pass to the next generation which was why he had to kill her. It was nothing personal really. Well okay it was technically personal considering her ability.

But he stood firm on his belief that she had to die.

It was a waste of power and ability, sure. But he simply couldn't allow her to live and chance her somehow ending up in the other world with her male counter part, Naruto. Because if the two of them ever met up his plan to release the ten tailed biijuu would never see it's end. Which was why he had started looking for her in both dimensions.

He couldn't let her fall into the hands of the leaf nins and at the same time she couldn't be locked away or allowed to breed.

Her power was simply too great.

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okay in the next chapter there will be a week in a half time skip leading up to the hokage summit.

I'll have to re read the manga to figure out what I'm going to do.


	5. Chapter 5

Narutoverse two weeks later-

Gaara stared across the U shaped table at his fellow Kage with a sense of anxiousness. He didn't had a vague feeling of why the five Kage's had been summoned together but he had this deep sense of fear that it maybe had something to do with the Leaf village. And the Akatsuki.

And if it did, then Naruto was somehow indirectly involved.

Which meant that his friend was in some sort of trouble and would need his help. But first he wanted to hear what the other Kage's had to say before he decided to leave and possibly start a war just to help Naruto.

His aqua eyes flickered from one face to another though he had his chin propped up on his hands, his slender fingers laced together. "Everyone put your hats on the table-" Someone said and Gaara watched as everyone placed their hats on the table. "Good everyone is here..."

_With the exception of the Hokage of the Leaf village._ Gaara thought darkly as he recalled hearing about the destruction of the Leaf village. He had sent some of his people to help in the aid of the village and it's people. He had even gathered food, water, clothes, medical supplies, tents and other things and sent them to the village along with twenty of Sauna hospital's medical staff. Ten of which were surgeons and specialists. Five more were techs that worked in the lab. And five nurses to relieve some of the Konoha medical nins that had been working round the clock since the village's destruction.

He had even sent some of his shinobi to check up on his friends and to help the leaf nins and have given them all specific instructions to contact him if Naruto or one of his other friends were wounded in the attack so that he could leave Sauna and go see them.

Everyone was silent for a moment and Gaara made a frustrated sound and shifted so that his hands hit the table palm down drawing every ones attention to him as effectively as scraping his finger nails across a chalk board. "I'll go first-" Gaara said in irritation as he bent his elbows and laced his fingers back together again and re rested his chin on them out of habit. "Listen up-"

"The makeup of the Kages sure has changed-" An elderly man with white and grey hair and age spots-or was it freckles?-across the bridge of his nose said as he glared at Gaara. "You must be something special to be made the Kazekage of the sand village at your age. But you have no manners."

Gaara gave the elder a narrow eyed look. "I guess that is why I'm here as the Kazekage."

"Cheeky brat!" The elder growled. Gaara gave him a cheeky smile. Not caring in the least that he was upsetting the man.

"Tsuchikage-" A woman in her early twenties said in a chiding tone as she looked at the elder with a disappointed look on her pretty face before saying gently. "Stop interrupting. Kazekage-sama, please continue."

Gaara nodded his head slightly. "I am a former host. Akatsuki captured and almost killed me extracting the Shikaku from me. That is why I believe they are dangerous- I requested aid from the other Kage's many times, but they all ignored me except for the former Hokage. Though at this time with so many hosts captured, it's too late for aid."

"Hmph. If a country lost it's host, then it has no business ordering the rest of us around or asking for help. It's an embarrassment. You should have tried to recover it in secret. Once it's stolen you can't expect other countries to help you."

Gaara gave the elder a pointed look and growled. "Did I ask for your opinion? Besides appearance and honor, I have no time for that ridiculous and old fashioned way of thinking-"

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Send? What did he mean by send? She wasn't so sure that she liked the way he said that. It sounded ominous and altogether terrifying. And far too much for her to handle in her current condition.

"S-Send? Send me where? What are you talking about? Kidnapping is against the law-"

"It isn't kidnapping per say. Merely placing you somewhere where you'll be safe and well cared for-" The man said absent mindedly as a sharp prickling sensation spread across the top of her scalp. She bit her lip as she twitched under his hand and tried not to let him know that he had hurt her all the while wondering; Why wasn't she screaming for help?

Was she an idiot or something?

"Screaming would be pointless since there is no one around to hear you." The man said as those weird blue eyes flickered to her face and he smiled a little bit. He saw such great things in store for her. Her _new_ life might begin with a little pain and sorrow, but that along with past experiences would make her the great leader and fantastic future mother that she was meant to be.

She looked around the deserted streets in a panic. Her violet eyes wider than usual. Why wasn't there anyone around? Come to think of it, she couldn't hear any car horns beeping or people calling for taxies or anything like that either.

What the hell was going on?

"I've stopped time for the people around us. They can neither see nor hear us. The only ones unaffected are the two of us-" _And the assassin who has come to kill you. _He thought sadly as he sensed Madara's chakra on the move.

He must have noticed the difference in the atmosphere around the city and it's people and was trying to reach Shay before he could send her to the other world. He could feel the mad man's oppressive chakra even from miles away, knew that he had only a little time left and used his free hand to open the portal to the other world right behind her and handed her the book that Jiriraya had written for Naruto.

She couldn't go anywhere without it since it had a note to Naruto in it.

_Naruto, _

_I'm sorry that I couldn't be there for you in the years to come. I tried so hard to instill you with everything that I could think of to make you strong. A great and powerful darkness is coming, and while I can't be there to help you, I can send you a very valuable and precious treasure. _

_She is a direct descendant of the great Sage, and of the great woman prophet Cassandra. She has the ability to see far into the future and will be of great use during the war with Madara. _

_Protect her and keep her safe from harm because she is the only one who can help you win._

_Goodbye Naruto, and good luck._

_Jiraiya  
_

"Be sure to hold onto that. If you lose it they may kill you." He said as he reached out with his senses and noted that Madara was almost there.

Shay looked at him strangely and then glanced down at the book and almost didn't notice when the axis of her world shifted side ways and she started to fall. She opened her mouth to scream, but her voice suddenly froze in her throat as darkness descended on her and she fell farther...

He closed the portal and stood there as the skies split apart and lightning flashed over head as rain started to fall. Tipping his head back he stared at the cloudy skies and smiled a little bit. It had been over several hundred years since he had last felt the rain on his skin.

He heard something heavy hit the ground a few feet away from him and turned his head a little bit to look at the man.

Madara stood just a few feet away from him panting, his spiked dark hair drooping from the rain, his breathing harsh, his one visible eye glittering furiously behind his mask. "You-" Madara hissed in anger. "Where is she?"

The man gave him an amused smile. "Gone on ahead. And you'll _never_ reach her now." The man said as he started to glow a pale translucent blue as his body started to break apart, his time and his power were finally used up. He would disappear now. But at least he got to spend his final moments laughing at his mortal enemy.

Madara let out a frustrated scream as his hand went to his hip where he his weapons pouch was. His fingers itching to pull a kunai and chuck it at the phantom for the great sage of the six paths.

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Wow, this was a complicated chapter to write.

But at least it makes sense...I hope.

Anyways here is this chapter I hope that you like it.

I'll start the next one after I take a nap or something since I do my best work when I'm asleep.

Please read and review and let me know what you think.


	6. Chapter 6

Narutoverse-

Chaos reigned at the Hokage summit.

After learning of the orgins of the Akatsuki and of Danzou's betrayal of the Kage's trust; Sauske attacked.

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Sauske jumped back away from their escape route as several whitish pinkish globs hit the top of the opening causing it to start to sizzle and melt. _What the hell?_ Sauske thought as he turned around and glared at the blond headed woman sitting at the end of the U shaped table wiping her mouth with well manicured fingers. Looking as delicate as a flower.

The bitch.

"Akatsuki violated Kirigature and made Yondiame Mizukage their play thing..." The woman said before sighing. "It looks like the Uchiha clan has some good looking men." Beside her a young man in his twenties wearing a turtle neck shirt, a black vest and goggles jumped up onto the table and sat there for a second looking at Sauske as if he'd like nothing more than to see him melt too.

"Don't interfere." Sauske growled in irritation. The woman gave him an angelic smile and sighed again.

"Such a good looking man...what a waste. But I'll give you a kiss to remember me by-" The woman said as she slowly stood up. Sauske blinked at her as Karin came running up and pointed at the woman and shrieked.

"What the fuck did you just say? Who do you think you are? An old hag like you has no business acting all seductive!" Sauske reached out and absent mindedly put his hand over Karin's mouth to shut her up as the blond stood up and said very gently.

"If your not going to join in-" She reached out and grabbed the back of the goggle guy's shirt and yanked him back off of the table causing him to hit the floor next to her with a dull thud and a small yelp. "The fight, Tsuchikage, then please get out of here." The Mizukage said as one of her cheeks started to puff up an instant before she opened her mouth and a cloud of sticky whitish pinkish stuff spurted out of her mouth towards Sauske.

_Yoton Yokai no Jutsu..._

Karin paled a little bit and threw herself over the table in an effort to escape the attack as Sauske let his chakra flair just in time for it to hit a wall of his chakra.

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Gaara was on his way back to the main hall with his siblings, Temari and Kankuro. And the Raikage when several samurai came running across the ruined floor and stopped in front of them. Gaara looked the men over for a moment, noting that aside from a few cuts and bruises and some burned clothes that the men seemed otherwise unharmed by Sauske's attack. Yet what really got his attention was the figure slung over one of the samurai's shoulders.

All he could really make out was a black jacket and deep blue leggings and boots with heels. A woman? "What do you have there, Maikozumi?" The Raikage asked curiously as the samurai dumped the person on the floor in front of them confirming Gaara's suspicions about it being a woman.

She looked to be about eighteen years old with pale skin, and peculiar red hair with pink and fusha highlights to it. There were dark circles under her closed eyes and she was dressed in a white knit cotton shirt that looked as if it were two sizes too big for her slender frame.

"This woman appeared out of thin air and fell on Fuku's head. She looked suspicious so we picked her up and brought her along. What do you want us to do with her?"

The Raikage stared at the girl hard for a moment. "Do you think she is in league with Sauske and the Akatsuki?" Because if so, then he wanted her head on a pike.

"We do not think so. She isn't dressed as one. And though she is dressed strangely we believe that she may be a _civilian_."

"What? Are you sure?" Gaara asked and the samurai that had spoken shifted his attention to him and nodded his head and grasped the woman's wrist and showed them her hand.

"It's soft. No callousness. No markings from ever picking up a weapon. Her body is also very slender, there is no muscle definition to indicate a konoichi's training."

"Where did she come from then?" Temari asked as she knelt down next to the young woman and studied her as the samerai shook his head.

"We do not know. But she did have one thing on her that might provide a clue-" Maikozumi said as he reached into his breast plate and pulled out a little paper back book and handed it to Gaara who recognised it. Around the time the Toad sage Jiriaya had died, Naruto had received a book just like this.

It was about a knuckle headed ninja who rose in the ranks of the shinobi world without losing himself. Jiriaya had spoken about the hero of the story almost as if he had met him in person. And after Naruto had returned to the village and won against Pein, he had managed to dig a copy of the book from the ruins and had sent it to Gaara as a gift.

It wasn't until Gaara had actually managed to sit down (he had had to threaten, bully and beat a few people for the much needed spare time) to read the book that Gaara had realised that Jiraiya had written it before Naruto's birth, and that it was a book full of the older man's hopes for Naruto.

He hoped he was a knuckle headed young man.

He hoped that he always smiled.

He hoped that Naruto would never lose his way.

Gaara stared at the words sprawled across the cover then opened it to the first page and froze. His sand thrashing about him in a display of anxiousness that forced his siblings back a step or so before he realised what he was doing and calmed himself, forcing his sand to settle as he scanned the small letter on the inside of the first page before closing the book and looking at Temari and Kankuro and saying.

"The woman was sent here by a friend. She comes with us so I do not want her to come to any harm. Temari. Kankuro. The three of us will protect her until we can meet up with Naruto."

"Hey hold on a second! What if she's an Akatsuki spy? Doesn't that matter to you?" Rikage said, raising his voice a little bit as Gaara knelt down and scooped the girl up in his arms then stood back to his full height and glared at the older Kage from over his shoulder.

"No. Not in the least. But since you seem to think that- Then let me make myself clear. Don't you dare lay so much as a finger on this girl for any reason...or I'll kill you." Gaara said coldly before he started walking, his two siblings falling into step behind him whispering.

"Gaara you can't threaten another Kage."

"What's going on? What did you see in that book?"

Gaara looked back at them and whispered back. "I'll explain later."

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The Mizukage had Sauske on the run.

He slammed into a solid stone wall and bit back a cry of pain as he slid to the floor gasping for air and bleeding as the woman closed in on him. "Now we're all alone...look-" The woman said as she lifted a slender hand to point at the wall behind him. "I blocked your escape route with my first attack. You have no where to run. The room is completely sealed. There is no way out. I have two Kekkei Genkai's and can use Fire, Water, and Earth-" She said as she formed a seal with her hands and opened her mouth and exhaled a white smoke.

Sauske's eyes and skin started to burn uncomfortably as he let his chakra flair again in an effort to protect himself.


	7. Chapter 7

Sorry this chapter took so long. My power went out at around two forty five this evening and didn't come back on until eight thirty seven. And on top of that, my cell phone was ringing off the hook. (I really wish the damn thing had died.) I got a really, really, _really_ bad headache. The water heater went out for good. And I had a mouse jump out at my face when I went to wash the dishes.

I have _not_ had a very good day. Not a very good day at fucking all.

Now here is the next chapter and I have to say I'm proud of the way the story is going. I just wish everyone who read it would _say_ something. This isn't like my other fics so I'm more than a little bit at a loss. As such I'm very uncertain about what I'm doing.

Here is where it will get tricky.

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Madara Uchiha was upset-

No, scratch that. He was beyond upset when he returned to the world of his birth. He wanted blood. Someones. Anyone's. He just didn't care anymore.

The descendant of Cassandra had slipped through his fingers with the help of the Great Sages ghost. It was as irritating as it was vexing. He needed that girl dead so that he could carry out his plans. But because of who she was and what she could do it would be very difficult to reach her.

Even more so to_ kill_ her if the small clue that he had gotten from the Great Sage was _any_ indication at all.

Meaning that even though she was in this world-the one that he had been born into. He may never find her again. No doubt the ghost had completely awakened her powers and maybe even placed a seal or two on her to keep her abilities from killing her and to keep him from not being able to sense her.

Still that wouldn't stop him since there were only a few places in all the world that she could be hidden. Sauna. What was left of the Leaf village.

Both were sort of good and crappy hiding places, however if she were placed in the hands of certain individuals like, Kakashi Hatake, Naruto Uzumaki, Sabaku no Gaara, Shikamaru Nara. Also having her placed in the hands of the Inuzuka, Hyuuga, and Aburame clans could prove to be troublesome too. Especially since they were the most cunning and vicious of the clans.

And once the woman was in the hands of one of the people or clans he was thinking of, his plans would go to shit. Literally. Because one of several things would happen.

1) They would covet her and give her an _SSS_-rank. Which meant that she would be watched by a whole fucking battalion of people dedicated to protecting her 24/7.

2) They would try to secure her and her abilities through a more subtle method and _marry_ her off to someone to beget heirs for a very old, very distinct bloodline. Perhaps one that bordered on extinction. (Like the Hatake, the Uzumaki, or something similar to the Uchiha but without the emotional baggage.)

3) They might train her to be a nin. Or not considering how _rare_ and _invaluable_ her abilities were.

Whatever happened he had to find her and kill her.

And on top of that his talk with Naruto hadn't gone as he had planned. The teen reminded him far too much of his rival the first Hokage. He was too head strong, too...enlightened, for one so young. And he was so closely guarded. It would be difficult to get his hands on him.

He appeared in the the large meeting room where he had been told by his partner that the Kage's were meeting, and looked around at the ruined four-no three walled room. A majority of the fourth wall lay in a heap of rubble over by Sauske's twitching semi conscious body.

He sighed and quickly shushined over to the Uchiha and caught him around the waist and lifted him up onto his shoulder as he moved back out of the way before the white grey haired elder could crush the teen with a large piece of stone from the ceiling.

Karin gasped and started crying. "Sauske, no!"

The elder turned to her and snarled. "Quit your sniveling. Have you no pride as a shinobi?"

Karin sobbed and buried her face in her hands as the Raikage and Gaara stepped through an opening across the room where the door was and both paused as Madara turned his head to observe them for a moment before noticing the girl in the young Kazekage's arms and nearly dropping Sauske in shock.

Oh shit. Of all the people to place the girl with that ghost bastard had to place her with Gaara! The man may be young, but he was in no way a push over even though he no longer held a demon with in him. If he fought with Gaara, the younger man would no doubt want to pay him back for the pain he suffered when Shikaku was extracted, which meant that he would be a very motivated fighter and Madara wouldn't be able to keep up in his current state.

He simply wasn't powerful enough after using a majority of his chakra's to hop from one demintion to another simply to murder one _lone_ little girl. "Dammit." There was no way that he could take on _all_ of the Kage's, let alone _one_ specific one.

He used his time space distortion jutsu to send Sauske away as Karin and the Kage's all noticed him. Not that he noticed them much, his eye was drawn to the girl that he intended to kill as she was handed off to the Kazekage's brother who took her and moved back a good distance so that his younger brother and his sister could take up positions to protect him and the girl.

_Dammit! _

"You-" One of the Kage's said in shock as everyone else in the room turned their attention to him and started to size him up.

"Good evening Kage's. My name is Uchiha Madara..." Everyone got stunned looks on their faces and Madara almost laughed, they all looked like such fools. "Now to explain why I'm here-" He pointed at the girl in Kankuro's arms and the four Kage's all turned slightly to look at her. "I want that girl."

True to his earlier thoughts Gaara stepped in between the others and the girl and glared at him. "For what purpose do you want her?" Gaara asked coldly, and Madara smiled a little bit under his mask. The Kazekage may be a lot of things, but stupid wasn't one of them. It seemed that Gaara had already decided to fight him for her if it came to that.

But would he fight the other Kage's? And for some nobody like Shay Sasha Circe?

"No purpose. I just want to kill her. That's all." He had apparently chosen the wrong words, because the other Kage's suddenly tensed and stepped between Gaara and Madara.

"And why would someone like you want to kill a defenseless woman?" The Mizukage asked in a cold tone that rivaled Gaara's. The tone sending chills down Madara's spine as he shrugged and attempted to look bored.

"I'm a criminal. Why do I do anything? Maybe I just want to shed her blood." Madara said flippantly.


	8. Chapter 8

Okay first off a few little notes-

I'm not going to write out a lot of fight scenes right now.

Because I'm still trying to lay a decent foundation for the story before I really get in there. Which means that this chapter and a few others are merely to explain a few things until I can get all of the characters in place so that I can _really_ start.

I know that I have to get it up to the point where Tsunade is awake in in charge again before I can focus everything on the upcoming battles and what I want to do.

But in the mean time let me just say that I'm not really going to mention the fight between Danzou and Sauske except in little snips of memory or something. Just like I'm only going to leave vague mentions of Naruto's talk with Madara. So even if I don't mention something lets go ahead and assume that it's happened anyways so that I can get to the good stuff.

So just bear with me cause this is really really out of my element.

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_It seemed that Gaara had already decided to fight him for her if it came to that._

_But would he fight the other Kage's? And for some nobody like Shay Sasha Circe?_

_"No purpose. I just want to kill her. That's all." He had apparently chosen the wrong words, because the other Kage's suddenly tensed and stepped between Gaara and Madara._

_"And why would someone like you want to kill a defenseless woman?" The Mizukage asked in a cold tone that rivaled Gaara's. The tone sending chills down Madara's spine as he shrugged and attempted to look bored._

_"I'm a criminal. Why do I do anything? Maybe I just want to shed her blood." Madara said flippantly._

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Meanwhile somewhere towards Iron country-

Everyone was quiet as they walked along the dirt road. Their minds reeling in shock.

The Daimyos for fire country had handed down an execution order for Sauske. On grounds of being an international criminal.

Natrually the news was not received well among the rookies, and Naruto was out of the village, so he probably didn't know about it. Which left it up to a small handful of the rookies to go find the nine tailed jinchuriiki and tell him about the execution order. Something that no one was looking forwards too.

Even Sakura was unusually quiet as they walked along. "Kiba. Have you picked up Naruto's scent yet?" Sai called from somewhere behind the dog nin as Akamaru sniffed at the ground several feet in front of him, turning his head slightly the dog made a low 'ror' sound and Kiba scratched his cheek almost nervously. This was the dozenth time in almost an hour that the former Root member had called out to him and he was starting to sense that if he didn't catch Naruto's scent by the next time he answered; he'd be spitting out some teeth.

"Uhhh..."

"Dammit Kiba do I have to come up there and kick you and your dog?" Sai snapped impatiently.

"Uhhhhhhh..." Kiba said again as Akamaru paused in his tracks and turned his head a little bit to the left and peeled his lip back from his fangs and eyed the pale teen as if to say._ Kick me and I'll really mess you up when I rip off your leg and run away with it. _

Sai sighed and shook his head slightly and glanced over at Sakura with a worried expression on his normally blank face then growled at Kiba, "Just hurry up and find Naruto-"

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Naruto sat on top of the inn where he, Kakashi and Yamoto had been staying, his breath coming out in little puffs of smoke in the cold air, his eyes staring blankly ahead as it started to snow. Behind him he was only slightly aware of Yamoto and Kakashi getting reamed by the woman running the inn because of the damage done to it.

_Sauske bears the curse of hatred for all of his clan. And he means to wield that curse of hatred against the world._

_Your lying! Sauske wouldn't- _Naruto had said in denial.

_Yes. He would. Madara said matter of factly._

_It was Sauske himself who made that choice..._ Madara's voice echoed in his head as azure blue eyes closed and Naruto hung his head a little bit and sighed.

_There's no helping it, I'll have to meet him face to face._ Naruto thought sadly as he buried his face in his hands and took a deep shuddering breath. Unaware that on the street below Kakashi was staring at him and feeling a sense of hoplessness and pain for everything that Naruto had suffered for Sauske's sake.

The copy nin could only imagine what Naruto was thinking at the moment. But he was sure that none of it was good.

"Uh! You shinobi are all the same! What the hell did you do to my inn?" The woman shrieked in outrage as she pointed at the large gaping hole in the side of their upstairs room surrounded by several pillars of wood.

"I am so sorry-" Yamoto said warily as he rubbed the back of his neck and cast Kakashi a nervous look. He didn't look too concerned about the damages to public property but then again the cheeky asshole would probably make _him_ pay for the damages. "I'll fix it right up and we'll pay extra for mental anguish-" Yamoto said in an effort to calm the irate woman down as she took a threatening step towards him.

His eyes widened a little bit and he took an involintary step back and grabbed at Kakashi's arm, hoping to get the copy nin to step in and use that smooth talking tongue of his to charm the woman into letting them go.


	9. Chapter 9

Meanwhile back at the Kage summit-

"And why would someone like you want to kill a defenseless woman?" The Mizukage asked in a cold tone that rivaled Gaara's. The tone sending chills down Madara's spine as he shrugged and attempted to look bored.

"I'm a criminal. Why do I do anything? Maybe I just want to shed her blood." Madara said flippantly as he located Karin and used his time space jutsu to send her to where Sauske was so that she could heal him while he talked with the Kage's a little bit to see if they would listen to reason.

The Raikage's chakra flared dangerously. "Hand over the Uchiha-" Madara gave him a calculating look and smirked a little beneath his mask. Hn. How fortuitous that out of all of the Kage's there was one that he may be able to use to get his hands on the girl.

Perhaps he'd be able to kill her after all. "First listen to what I have to say, then depending on you...I might hand Sauske over. If your willing to make a deal with me." Madara said in a coaxing tone, speaking to them as if they were children.

The Raikage growled low in his throat. "Never! Making a deal with you would be the same as making a deal with the devil! I won't do it!"

"A pity about your brother Killerbee-" Madara said in a mocking tone causing the Raikage to scream in rage and charge at him. He had almost reached Madara when several of his subordinates grabbed him and forced him back talking all at once in an effort to calm him.

Telling him that his younger brother was still alive. That he was in perfect health and somewhere hidden away form the Akatsuki.

It worked to a degree but apparently the Raikage was still utterly terrified that his brother _might_ be somewhere dead. Might, being the operative word. But apparently the simple possibility of his younger brother's death was enough to send the Kage into a rage.

"Well, whatever. I'll get your brother and the nine tails host soon enough. But right now I'm more interested in that girl. She's dangerous and needs to be eliminated." Madara said as he pointed at the red head in Kankuro's arms.

"She's a simple civilian. What's so dangerous about her?" Gaara asked curiously as he narrowed his eyes and gave Madara an unblinking stare.

"Ah, but she she isn't just _any_ civilian. She carries the last of an extinct blood line. The same extinct blood line that carries with it the power to destroy worlds. If allowed to continue living, she would destroy us all-" It was a clever half lie that Madara was feeding them. Clever. But still a half lie.

Aside from the power of prophacy, he had no idea what other abilities she had. He didn't even know if she could use them at will. All he could do was assume that the _possibility_ existed.

Gaara felt the weight of the other Kage's eyes on him and made a low growling sound as he took a few steps back, his sand swirling around him in agitation. If even one of them tried to grab the girl, he'd rip them to pieces.

He didn't care that they were fellow Kage's, or that it would mean war. He knew that Madara was lying to them, or at the very least half lying to them, which meant that he was desperate about eliminating the girl and foolish enough to turn the Kages against one another in the hopes that one of them would manage to do his dirty work for him.

Gaara wouldn't stand for it. He sure as hell wouldn't put up with it.

He was fully prepared to kill them and possibly even die himself.

"Kazekage-sama-" The Mizukage said gently, noting the way that the young Kage was sizing them up. He was tense and ready to strike, his mind already forming several different battle plans. _What an interesting guy_. She thought as she spoke again. "Tell us what you think."

Gaara looked at her, his aqua eyes like chips of ice. "I think that Madara is trying to turn us against each other by feeding us lies. I also think that he is hoping that someone will be stupid enough to kill the girl for him. I think that it is suspicious that he seems so intent on destroying one little civilian..."

"Almost as if he see's her as a threat to his plans?" The Mizukage asked. Gaara nodded his head and smirked a little bit. He had known that not _all_ of the Kage's were self centered morons. The Mizukage moved to stand with Gaara and glared at the others in the room as her one remaining subordinate moved to stand next to her with his massive sword in his hand and a fierce look on his face.

"I agree with Kazekage-sama. I believe that Madara is lying to us to manipulate us into doing his dirty work." She said gently.

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Naruto hadn't moved for hours.

Something that worried Kakashi greatly since it was getting later in the day and the temperature had dropped a bit more to accommodate the snow storm hanging over the town where they were staying. The copy nin stood just outside of their room window staring at the teens back, trying to figure out what he could say to him to get him to stop worrying about Sauske.

As far as the copy nin was concerned, Sauske was a criminal and a traitor and as of earlier when Madara had visited them; the Uchiha was no longer Naruto's problem. Because the next time Kakashi saw him, he was going to kill him for all of the pain and suffering that he had been putting Naruto, Sakura and everyone else through.

"Should one of us go up there and say something? It's getting cold and he doesn't have his parka on." He hadn't been down to eat anything for lunch either and Kakashi had made sure to order ramen for him in an effort to cheer the blond up a little bit.

The copy nin sighed and grabbed Naruto's parka and walked over to the window and opened it and slipped outside and leaped up onto the roof and landed lightly on the balls of his feet several feet from Naruto and slowly straitened his spine so that he could walk over to the teen.

He stepped slowly, cautiously, not wanting to startle Naruto from his thoughts to such a degree that he might attack him and cause them both to tumble off of the roof and possibly break _both_ of their necks. He got close enough to drape Naruto's parka across his shoulders, causing the teen to twitch a little bit before he tilted his head and looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

Once Naruto realised that Kakashi was the one who had come up he looked away again. "Something wrong...sensei?" Naruto asked in a rough voice as he lifted his arms and crossed them in an X fashion over his chest and gripped the edges of his parka and pulled the edges closer around him.

"No. Nothing-" _Just everything_. Kakashi thought as he dropped down so that he was sitting beside the blond. "I just came up to tell you that there's ramen if your hungry." Naruto perked up a little bit and Kakashi smiled a little under his mask as Naruto turned azure eyes to him and looked like he was about to break down and cry for a second but quickly reigned himself in and smiled for the copy nin.

"That would be awesome...it's kind of cold out here anyways..." Naruto mumbled as he started to get up and wobbled a little bit forcing the copy nin to reach out and grab his elbow to steady him. Naruto mumbled something else under his breath and grasped the copy nin's fore arm and shifted his footing so that he wouldn't fall and gave Kakashi a tight lipped smile as he let go of his arm and took a step away from him.

"You good Naruto?"

"Yeah." Naruto said as Kakashi loosened his hold on his elbow and let him take another step away before dropping his hand to his lap completely and sat there watching Naruto as he walked along the roof and bit the inside of his cheek and tried not to laugh when Naruto slipped on a patch of ice under the snow and slipped and fell off of the roof and landed in a passing wagon full of hay.

"Naruto?"

"I-I'm okay!" Naruto called back weakly as he blinked his azure eyes and patted himself down to make sure that he was still in one piece before calling out again. "Can we pretend this never happened?"

Kakashi chuckled and shook his head. There was no way he was keeping this story to himself.

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"So you refuse to hand over the girl and the Bijuu then?"

"Of course we refuse! We aren't fools."

Madara snickered in amusement. It was funny how defiant they were when they didn't know what sort of trouble they were getting themselves into. "Very well then. I here by declare the start of the fourth great ninja war."

The Kage's all looked shell shocked by his words.

"Your joking-"

Madara shook his head no. "I'm not such a fool that I would joke about something like this. I merely wish to warn you that while I myself have no power, I do have the seven Bijuu that I've collected thus far. You have no hope of victory."

Gaara bared his teeth and growled at him. "We will _not_ abandon hope!"

"Then you are fools-" Madara said in irritation. "And the next time we meet it will be on the battle field." Madara said before vanishing in a swirling vortex, leaving the four Kage's alone to think of their next move.

The elder sighed. "Dear me. What do we do now?" They had just more or less condemned every man, woman and child in all of their villages to death for the sake of three small and insignificant people.

_We must be insane._ The Mizukage thought as she looked over at her subordinate. The dark haired young man looked back at her and gave her a grim smile. Understanding very well that there are simply some things that those in power shouldn't do.

And that sometimes those lines blurred.

"We must form a shinobi alliance. It's the only way to oppose the power of the seven Bijuu." Gaara said as he started to cross his arms when a soft moan tore his attention from the other Kage's and he glanced over at the girl in Kankuro's arms as she started to stir.

"Oh my-" The Mizukage said as the girl's eyes opened and she saw Kankuro's face and blinked at him a second before letting out an ear splitting shriek as her hand shot out and her fist caught him under the chin, snapping his head back on his neck. Causing him to fall as he dropped the girl.

Temari jumped back away from Kankuro as he hit the floor with a dull thud as the red headed girl scrambled to her feet and promptly looked around the room, her eyes impossibly wide and frightened looking in her pale face as she looked at the four Kage's and her fear morphed into full blown terror. Gaara put his hands up in a non threatening manner and was about to speak when the girl turned and started running, slipping through the hole in the wall and vanishing from sight as Gaara sighed and dropped his hands and hung his head for a second as the Raikage wrinkled his nose a little bit and said in a hushed tone.

"You should have broken one of her legs."

Gaara lifted his head and gave the man a funny look. "Why?"

"Because it makes it hard for one to run away if their leg is broken."

Gaara made a funny sound in the back of his throat and looked over at Kankuro who was sitting up now and rubbing the under side of his chin. "You okay?" Gaara asked as Kankuro groaned. The man nodded his head.

"I'm peachy...jesus christ she has a mean left hook..." Kankuro said as Gaara gave him an apologetic look and moved over to the hole in the wall and slipped through to go chase down their new friend before she got herself into trouble, or worse.

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Wow, this was a nice chapter.

I'm a little bummed that it only has thirteen reviews but whatever. It's a cool story.

If any of you know any people who like OCish fem naru/Naruto/ Kakashi stories then please tell them about this.

I think my computer is starting to get a virus from that damn manga site that I've been using for the Naruto canon stuff. It keeps acting up.

I'm not going to write about the fight between Sauske and Danzou, or the fight between Naruto and Sauske.I feel that it would take up too much time and right now I want to move the story along as much as I can.

So after the next chapter or so I'm going to skip ahead a few weeks and introduce Shay to Tsunade and establish a few things.


	10. Chapter 10

Gaara made a funny sound in the back of his throat and looked over at Kankuro who was sitting up now and rubbing the under side of his chin. "You okay?" Gaara asked as Kankuro groaned. The man nodded his head.

"I'm peachy...jesus christ she has a mean left hook..." Kankuro said as Gaara gave him an apologetic look and moved over to the hole in the wall and slipped through to go chase down their new friend before she got herself into trouble, or worse.

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Shay didn't know what was going on. All she knew was that she had been in a messed up room full of people that she didn't know-

And her mind had automatically slipped into dark territory. Like 'Oh my god I've been kidnapped and their going to do terrible things to me then kill me!' Sort of dark territory. Which had caused her life (as pathetically brief as it had been up until this point) to flash before her eyes and at the very end of it had been that nagging little reminder that she was probably pregnant. _Probably_ being the operative word since she had never made it to the corner store to get a damn test.

Which had caused what little bit of self preservation instinct and maternal instinct that she possessed, to kick in. She had punched the man holding her thinking that he was one of her kidnappers and had run.

After all it wasn't just her life on the line now, but her future child's life too and she'd be damned if she just sat back and let a group of people kill her while she was expecting.

Fuck that.

And fuck them.

She was outta here and if any of them tried to stop her, then she'd kick their asses. She rounded a corner and ducked down behind a large jagged stone and made sure that she wasn't in any place where she could be seen from any direction and waited as she tried to catch her breath as she waited anxiously for one of her kidnappers to come after her.

True to their nature, one of her kidnappers made his way down the hall, pausing just on the other side of the stone where she was sitting, forcing her to hold her breath as her heart hammered against her ribs. She waited until he started walking again before shifting a little bit and watching him as he moved further away. Her narrowed violet eyes sizing him up.

He was a red head, though his hair looked to be more of a crimson color. It was slightly long, and shaggy looking. She figured his height to be at about six foot five, his weight at about one hundred and forty, and his age was fairly close to her own.

Meaning that he was anywhere from nineteen to twenty two years old. The moment that he turned the corner up ahead, she quietly slipped out from behind the stone and started walking, making sure not to let the heels of her boots touch the floor until she was at the corner forty five feet away from where the red haired guy disappeared at then took off running again and almost fell when she slammed into something hard and solid and would have fallen if a pair of big hands hadn't grasped her upper arms and pulled her up against what she now knew was a male body.

She looked up at the man wide eyed, and noted with some confusion that she was staring at the same young man that had just walked past her a few minutes ago. Which meant one of two things. 1) She had been running in a circle. The thought alone was enough to make her violent. And then there was 2) The guy had a twin. Again the mere thought was enough to send her into a rage.

How dare her kidnapper cheat like that!

"Let me go!" She said in a panic as she reached up and pushed against him. He made a grunting sound and tightened his hold on her a moment before her feet came up off fo the floor and she screamed against his shoulder and kicked out in an effort to hurt him as she said over and over in between terrified screams. "Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!"

Gaara tightened his arms around the frightened female and tried to subdue her without harming her. Even though he was sure that his left ear was bleeding from having her scream in it. And his shin hurt from where she had managed to kick him not once, but three times forcing him to use his sand to bind her legs as she continued to thrash around until she didn't have any strength left and she went almost totally still in his arms aside from her body's trembling.

The poor thing was so terrified that she couldn't help herself. He remained quiet while she broke down and for a moment he thought that she was about to start crying when she opened her mouth and sank her sharp little teeth into his shoulder, startling him as he yelped and stupidly let her go and almost got himself laid out flat like his brother when she reared back her fist and tried to hit him.

He jumped back away from her and used his sand to yank her off of her feet and stood a foot or so away rubbing his shoulder where he had felt her teeth break the skin under his shirt as he stared at her unsure of what to do about her hostile behavior. It was understandable that she would be frightened. Few people in the world wouldn't be.

But he had no real idea of why she was frightened. Or if she was under a genjutsu.

As soon as the thought crossed his mind he lifted a hand and formed a seal and focused as he muttered, "Kai release." In the hope that she _was_ under a genjutsu. He waited for several seconds to see if anything changed and sighed when the girl continued to scream and thrash around on the floor as his sand wound it's way around her body, slowly restraining her.

Well damn.

What was he supposed to do with her now? He wondered as she seemed to calm and lay on the floor with her hands and feet bound by his sand, her face flushed, her peculiar colored hair sticking to the corner of her lips as she panted and glared at him.

"Feeling better now?" He asked as he dropped down to one knee next to her and jumped a little bit when she jerked her body towards him in a threatening manner. _Hn. Apparently not._ Gaara thought as he stared at her with a wary expression on his face.

"Let me go..." He started to shake his head no and she bared her teeth at him in a feral expression that made him blink in awe. He had never met a woman that could pull off _that_ look and mean it, but he knew without a doubt that she did. If he foolishly let her go, she would tear into him without a second thought.

It was ironic in a sense. And the irony wasn't lost on him.

"I need you to calm down." He said gently. He simply didn't know what else to say to her. And though he doubted that she could calm down just because he said so, he still felt that it was worth a try.

"And let you do whatever you want. No-" She tried pulling her hands free, straining against the sand in an effort to get loose so that she could scratch his eyes out. "Never. I have too much at stake not to fight! _And dammit what the hell is this crap holding my hands_?" She fairly shrieked in outrage when she couldn't get her hands free.

Gaara bit the inside of his cheek as she stopped trying to free her hands and lay there with a vulnerable expression on her face. It was such a heart wrenching look that he almost reached out and touched her in an effort to assure her. And he might have...if his mind hadn't been screaming,_ Danger! Danger! Don't let her get her hands or her teeth on you again!_

He was fairly certain that if he made the mistake of putting his hand anywhere near her mouth, he'd end up missing a finger or two before he could pull his hand back.

And wouldn't that be hard to explain to his siblings? Not to mention the other Kage's.

"Please just hear me out before you decide to attack me again-" Gaara said patiently. If she refused to listen to reason then he would place her under a temporary genjutsu to take her fear away yet leave her with the ability to think for herself and even defend herself if the need arose.

She remained quiet, even though she still glared at him as if she'd like nothing more than to see him suddenly burst into flames and turn to ash. "My name is Sabaku no Gaara. I'm the leader of a village called Saunagature. I mean you no harm-" She didn't believe him. He could see it in her eyes. "Do you know where you are?" He asked after a second or two of total silence.

She frowned at him. Her expression puzzled before she hesitantly answered. "No."

_Well that is one reason for her hostility._ Gaara thought as he asked. "How did you come to be here?"

Again she looked puzzled before answering. "I have no idea. One second I was out walking and the next some strange guy _grabbed_ me. And then he started saying weird things like, 'Screaming is pointless. No one will come to help you.' And 'I have to do something and send you somewhere' And now I'm here..." _And there is reason two for her hostility._ Gaara thought wearily.

Gods no wonder she had fought him. She had been brought here against her will and had assumed that he and the others were a part of the 'strange mans' gang.

"Will you tell me your name?"

"That depends. Are you going to_ hurt_ me?"

"I've already told you that I wouldn't harm you. I will honor my word." Gaara said gently. She gave him an peculiar look. Not quite trusting him, yet not really sure what to do but to play along.

"Alright-" She said in a begrudging manner as she looked at him, all of the fight draining out of her. "But if you betray me there will be no where on gods green earth you can run too or hide. Because I will hunt you down and when I do..." She let her voice trail off a little bit and Gaara gave her an bemused look as he waved his hand and his sand slowly slithered back away from her, freeing her.

"I understand-" He said as she pushed herself into an sitting position and placed one of her hands over her stomach and looked a little...green for a second, causing him to frown and ask in concern. "Are you alright?"

She thinned her lips and held one finger up then said in a rush. "MynameisShaySashaCirce. And I'm going to be sick-" An instant later she was on her feet and running down the hall to the corner where she promptly dropped to her knees and started retching.


	11. Chapter 11

She thinned her lips and held one finger up then said in a rush. "MynameisShaySashaCirce. And I'm going to be sick-" An instant later she was on her feet and running down the hall to the corner where she promptly dropped to her knees and started retching. Gaara was so startled by the fact that she was sick that he couldn't help himself from reacting the way he did. He jumped to his feet and ran over to her, his mind slightly panicked.

_Oh god, I didn't hurt her did I? Is she hurt? I can't smell blood but that doesn't mean that she couldn't somehow have obtained internal bleeding or something when she fought with me. I did squeeze her rather tightly._ Gaara thought as he hovered a step or two from her and waited for her to stop retching.

Shay was of the opinion that her baby was trying to kill her. Aside from the dry heaving, the fear, and humiliation of getting sick in front of a strange man. The lack of food in her stomach and the lack of sleep. Everything just sort of added up to this weird check list thing in her mind.

Something like, 'Drive mommy crazy, check.' Followed by, 'Help mommy lose weight, well she'll love me for that anyways so check.' And then there was the image of her ex boyfriend that rose in her mind. The one where he's in a full body cast in the hospital and has, 'Get the bitch back by knocking her up, check.' Written on one of his leg casts.

It was stupid. And in it's own wild way sort of funny too. And even though she knew it wasn't true she couldn't help the fact that those thoughts crossed her mind. They just seemed to be the only thing to make sense at the moment.

She finished puking and moved her body a little bit so that she was sitting with her back propped against the wall feeling weak and shaky, her head throbbing, her face felt clammy to the touch. "Are you okay?" The red headed man asked as he reached out and placed his hands against her cheeks. She made a soft humming sound and closed her eyes and gave him a half hearted smile as he frowned.

"You feel like you have a fever."

"I don't-" She said in a raspy voice as she opened her eyes and blinked at the worried stare that he was giving her. "It's not a fever. My body temperature just spiked because I got sick. Give it a few minutes and I'll be good as new."

He narrowed his eyes at her and looked like he was about to say something. To his knowledge people didn't get sick without some reason which was why he made a mental list of reasons that could cause someone to be sick out of the blue like that and systematically started to check them off.

Stress was a trigger. And the gods only knew that she_ had_ to be stressed even though she gave him the impression that she handled stress fairly well. The bite mark on his shoulder and his injured leg were both sort of testimony to the fact that she was fully capable of thinking well under pressure.

Illness, such as a stomach flu would also make one ill.

The only other thing that he could think of was poison and there were only a small handful of poisons in all of the shinobi world that started out with vomiting. And they generally weren't very pleasant. He waited and after about ten minutes or so asked her. "Are you starting to feel better?"

"Yeah." She said as she shifted away from the wall to get to her feet as he breathed a sigh of relief. Looks like she wasn't suffering from poison. Which left stress and illness. He would have to have her checked out as soon as he could.

"Does that happen often?" He asked in an effort to subtly gather information on her health.

"Just every few hours or so... I imagine that it'll get worse for a few months before it stops altogether." She said cryptically as he frowned and cocked his head as he mentally went over her words. They didn't make any sense to him.

He made a 'hn'ing sound but said nothing. He really wasn't sure what to say. "Every few hours or so..." He muttered to himself before asking. "Are you able to hold food down?"

"Enough to keep me alive." But never really enough to keep her from being hungry. It was little wonder pregnant women ate so much. It wasn't just that they were eating for two, it was because they must be very deeply afraid of starving to death after a few months of suffering from morning sickness.

He made that 'hn'ing sound again. "I'm assuming that you know why you get sick-"

"Of course I do."

"Is it a medical condition or something?" _Is it something that I should know and be aware of?_ He wondered curiously.

Shay looked at the guy with a funny look on her face. He was fishing for information. She knew it because he was trying his best to be subtle and it reminded her of her father when she was a little girl, before he had suffered a psychotic break and killed her mother and two siblings before committing suicide in her bedroom while she had been asleep.

She sighed. "Look Gaara if there's something that you want to know-"

"I want to know why you got sick." Gaara said bluntly. All traces of tact gone.

"Well since you asked so nicely." She said in an irritated tone causing him to cringe before muttering a weak.

"Please." She smiled at him and grasped his shoulder and pulled him down and whispered in his ear then let him go and watched his face as the information seeped into his mind. She knew the exact moment he seemed to grasp what she had told him, his eyes got really wide and he turned red and started stuttering and she tipped her head to the side a little bit and made a mental note to tease him ruthlessly for turning into a stuttering and blushing mess before he seemed to pull himself together and held up one finger then took off running as fast as he could away from her.

Shay stood there watching his retreating back with a sense of amusement before muttering to herself. "Best to get used to it now Shay. This will be your life from now on-" Then she looked down at herself and put her hands over her stomach and grinned and cooed, "Well aren't you just a man chaser offer. You'll come in handy whenever I decide to start dating again and will help me weed out the losers, yes you will."

Gaara ran as fast as he could back to the meeting room and peeked through the hole in the wall and pointed at the Mizukage and his sister Temari and stuttered. "You- Women- I-I n-need-" Before breaking down and finally saying in an insistent voice that bordered on hysterical. "Help! Help! I need help!"

Temari frowned and made her way over to him as the Mizukage excused herself from the other Kage's politely to see what was wrong while the other two Kage's snickered and shook their heads in disbelief. Unable to comprehend just what could reduce the younger man to such a state.

"Gaara. What's wrong?" Temari asked curiously as her little brother flushed and stuttered just a little more before holding up his hand and signing and hourglass sign in the air with his fingers followed by cradling his arms as if he were holding something precious in them and did this little rocking motion. Temari blinked and wondered what the hell was going on as the Mizukage walked up and frowned as Gaara did the signs again and gave them a pained look.

It took him making the signs three times before someone finally got it and said. "I think he just said, woman and baby. Is someone here pregnant?" To which Gaara nodded his head and looked over his shoulder.

"Oh my-" The Mizukage said as she realised what Gaara was trying to tell them and slipped by him so that she could go check on the girl while Temari started past him too when he grabbed her arm and drew her attention back to him.

It was little wonder he was such a mess right now. Gaara had never really figured out how to act around women who were pregnant. On one hand he was fascinated by the whole process of creating life, and on the other hand he was deathly afraid that he might kill some poor woman like he had killed their mother. And even though Temari and Kankuro were old enough now to understand some of Gaara's thoughts about such things, they still didn't understand everything.

To Gaara this must have been a painful reminder of his childhood. She smiled at him and placed her hand on top of his and said gently. "It's okay Gaara. We girls will take care of this-" Gaara gave her a wide eyed stare and slowly shook his head.

His sister didn't understand why he was so freaked. It had nothing to do with his past or his lack of a mother and everything to do with something that he had read once in a book about a long supposedly extinct bloodline where the women of the clan absorbed the DNA of men through touch and conceived children from the brief contact.

He wasn't sure why exactly Shay's condition reminded him of that, but well, it was sort of the first thing that had popped into his mind before he had gone into shock. And though he knew that the conception of a new life was meant to be a joyous event, he couldn't help but think-

_I'm not ready to be a father yet!_

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Okay-

Here is this chapter. the next one will start with the Kage's meeting again several weeks later to discuss their alliance. I will once again be using the manga. And will introduce Shay to Tsunade then have some people assigned to protect her.

I'll mention her brief stay in Sauna with Gaara and a few visits from the Mizukage, and get around to introducing her to Kakashi and Naruto and the others.


	12. Chapter 12

Two in a half weeks later-

Shay shifted uncomfortably in the carriage. Even though the seats were stuffed with soft goose feathers and there were cushions stuffed with downy feathers, she still couldn't seem to get comfortable enough to sit still. "Are you sure that I can't get out and walk?" She asked in a pleading tone as she looked to her right at the red headed young man sitting there.

Gaara looked at her, his aqua eyes probing. "I understand your discomfort Shay Circe. But with the assassination attempts and Madara Uchiha skulking about-" He said, reminding her of the past few weeks she had spent in his home town and the three assassination attempts from what Gaara called 'jealous fan girls'.

"And my condition." Shay said with a slight pout. Just a little irked that she hadn't been able to do more than look out the window since she had appeared in this strange, _strange_ place.

Gaara nodded his head with a sober expression on his face. "Yes. That too. I simply believe that it would be best for you to stay out of sight. Besides-" He said gently as he pulled the red silk curtain back away for the window and pointed outside. "We're still in the dessert and your not well equipped to survive even a _small_ walk in this heat." He said as he let her see the miles and miles of endless sand around them.

She sighed and picked up one of the cushions and stuffed it behind her shoulders and leaned back against the plush seat and sighed. "Where are we going again?" She asked curiously. Beside her Gaara's lips curved up into a small smile.

"To the leaf village."

"To talk with someone about that Madara guy?"

"Yes."

She frowned and looked at him. "Why am I being taken with you?"

He reached over and pushed a strand of her thick red fuchsia hair back from her face and tucked it behind her ear and looked her over for what must have been the thousandth time in so many hours. She looked like a princess dressed in an scoop necked long sleeved emerald ankle length dress with a loose flowing skirt with gold trim and a thin mint green and cream colored shaw wrapped around her slender shoulders, her thick hair was pulled back away from her face and held into place by a gold and pearl and emerald vine style hair comb.

An ornate gold and emerald pendant necklace hung around her slender throat on a solid gold chain, and a set of small emerald dangle earrings hung from her ears.

Yes, she looked like a princess. And it was entirely his fault. After finding out about her pregnancy, he had taken up treating her the way that he imagined he would have treated his own mother if she had lived. He had taken the time to have her looked at by some of his private doctors back at Sauna. Had done research on what she _could _do in her condition. As well as the things that she _shouldn't_ do.

He had looked up ways to help ease her morning sickness (it still puzzled him that it was even called morning sickness since she was sick off and on all day).

He had hired a new set of cooks to fix her gourmet meals to help her gain some weight and had learned that he wasn't the father of her child (he wasn't sure if he was happy about that or disappointed) so he took a day or so to come to terms then shrugged it off.

But it hadn't stopped him from protecting her or checking on her or visiting her every time he went to lunch or finished his work early. And in the past two in a half weeks he had come to like the girl very much. She was funny, strong, deviously witted (his Anbu _still_ cried when he told them to watch her after the last time when one of them had made the mistake of saying lewd remarks about her to her face).

She was a fast learner. And _kind_.

It never ceased to amaze him how kind she was to his people when she encountered them.

And now that they were heading to the leaf village, he couldn't stop staring at her. He knew that his time with her was coming to an end and he wasn't sure if he could let her go, he'd grown used to having her around.

Just like he had gotten used to Temari running up to the two of them during the short walks to and from the hospital when she was to be checked out and watching as Temari rubbed Shay's stomach and grinned before she ran off to do something or another.

"Tell me about the leaf village. What are the people like? Are they nice?" Shay's questions pulled him from his thoughts and he smiled and settled back on his side of the carriage and said.

"Yes. Very-" _And I'm sure that they will treat you well when I hand you over to them._ Gaara thought before saying. "But you won't have to wonder about them for long since it is customary for the Leaf village to send some of their elite nin's to meet us half way... It's to make sure that we will reach the village in one piece."

Shay nodded her head in understanding. Having picked up as much knowledge about Gaara's people and their customs and knowing that it was simply a precaution that the young leader's death or disappearance would be considered an act of war that could divide the newly allied nations and could cause the deaths of countless millions.

"How long until we reach the half way point?"

"Less than an hour or so." Gaara said.

Shay got quiet after that. Nothing terribly unusual since he had noticed that she had the habit of getting quiet when she felt that she was being a pest. However he was just a little surprised to see her head bobbing a little bit as she struggled to keep her eyes open. Chuckling softly he reached out and grasped her delicate wrist in one hand and gently pulled her over to him and settled her on her side on the seat and laid her head in his lap so that she could sleep more comfortably.

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Naruto sat in one of the trees that formed a zig zag line along the border between the Leaf and Sand village looking for a small sign of Gaara and his caravan. The small radio attached to the collar of his jacket buzzing with static for a second before he heard Sakura's voice. "Naruto. Did Lady Tsunade ever tell you anything about Gaara's letters to her?"

Naruto frowned and pressed the small button and spoke. "No. No actually she didn't. Did she tell you anything?"

"No but I found one of the letters and I managed to read a little bit about Lord Jiraiya sending a precious treasure to help you fight the Akatsuki-"

Naruto's frown deepened. "What precious treasure? What do you mean he's sending something? He's dead!"

"He could have sent it through the mail." Sai's voice pipped in.

Naruto snorted. Of course. The damned pervert finds a top secret weapon to use against the Akatsuki, and he sends it through the snail mail. The bastard must have been checking out some chick's tits when he put the thing in the mail.

It's a wonder that the village was all but destroyed. "I guess I'll look for it once we're back in the village..." Naruto said absent mindedly when he caught sight of Gaara's carriage coming up over a sand dune, the four white and grey stallions pulling it whinnied and pranced a little bit at the top of the dune before they broke into a gallop and headed for the tree line. "Kakashi, get your nose out of that stupid book and look alive." Naruto snapped and made a disgruntled sound when he heard a faint snore over the radio.

_When had Kakashi fallen asleep?_


	13. Chapter 13

Shay looked out the window as the carriage came to a stop and saw several people appear in the clearing as if out of thin air. Two of them dropping from tree limbs that looked to be a good thirty or forty feet up, both landed easily on their feet without flinching or crying out in pain. It was as if they were super hero's or something.

It was weird. And kind of exciting too.

Which was probably why she was suddenly feeling so nervous that she practically plastered herself against Gaara's side and gripped his arm in a steely grip and stared wide eyed at the floor for a moment before she started babbling nervously. "I'm not sure if they'll like me. Do you think they will? I'm not sure. I've been told that I'm bad with groups and-"

Gaara listened to her nervous rambling for a moment and chuckled. Shay was adorable when she was like this. How could anyone _not_ like her? He reached across and grasped her hand in his and squeezed it reassuringly causing her to look up at him and blush a little bit. "Stop worrying about such trivial things. These people will adore you. After all, you are just like one of their friends." Gaara said gently as he let go of her hand and slipped his arm free of her grasp and moved away from her a little bit so that he could open the carriage door, but one of his people beat him to it.

"Lord Kazekage-sama. I will help you down." The man said gruffly as Gaara shook his head slightly and reached out and grasped Shay's hand and dragged her up out of the seat so that she was standing right in front of the door and he and his fellow Sauna nin helped her down out of the carriage as team Kakashi appeared out of thin air.

The five nins dropping out of the trees just to the left of the carriage as Gaara was climbing out. And the very second that Shay saw them, she started hiccuping and couldn't stop. Gaara glanced her way as the nins came closer and noticed that she was hiccuping and bit back a laugh as her entire body sort of jumped with each little half breath.

Reaching out Gaara placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned in and said helpfully. "Hold your breath." Knowing that if she didn't one of the leaf nins would seize the opportunity to do what he had noticed most leaf nins had the habit of doing and would make a contest/game out of who could be the scariest.

For some reason that Gaara had yet to fathom it was something that the Jounin of the leaf village had started in an effort to teach their students intimidation tactics so that they could scare some of their enemies without having to draw blood.

Something that required careful and meticulous planning, creativeness, and finesse. Picking the right person, and knowing where to draw the line. And as nice as a good game might be, he doubted that Shay would appreciate being a victim of such a thing.

Even if it would help her get rid of her hiccups. Shay held her breath and bit her lower lip as Gaara moved to greet his friends and hoped that non of them had noticed her just yet. Unfortunately the first thing out of Naruto's mouth when the two of them shook hands was, "Gaara, who's that girl?"

Gaara must have taken too long to answer because one minute he was trying to think of what to say and staring at _five_ leaf nins. And the next he was still trying to think of what to say and was staring at _four_ leaf nins and sort of panicked and looked over at Shay in time to see Naruto sneaking up on Shay and started to say something to the man but figured that if Shay killed him, then the rest of them would figure out that she was off limits and prayed that she wouldn't make the male suffer too badly before she killed him.

Naruto's curiosity often got the best of him.

He couldn't help it, it was simply in his nature to be curious about things. Which what had caused him to slip away from the group the moment that Gaara had let go of him to shake hands with Yamoto. Well that and the way Gaara had hesitated when Naruto had asked who the girl was.

Which was part of the reason that he was sneaking up on her. He was hoping that he could help her get rid of her hiccups and engage her in a little friendly conversation. And his plan might have worked if Sakura hadn't picked up a small pebble and flicked her wrist and sent it flying right at him at the exact moment he reached for her and ended up being hit in the side of the head by it and yelping so loudly that he frightened the poor girl more than he had initially intended before a wave of dizziness made him lose his balance and fall against her and knock her down.


	14. Chapter 14

"We are so sorry about our friend-" A girl with pink hair and emerald green eyes said politely as a man with silver hair put his foot on the tied up blond guys back and gave Shay a pleasant smile while the other two males and Gaara just stood there and watched as the pink haired girl continued to talk. "Please forgive Naruto. He's a bit stupid and socially awkward, but he didn't mean any harm."

Shay didn't say anything. To be perfectly honest she didn't mind the fact that the blond haired guy had accidentally fallen on top of her after being hit by a rock. Aside from scaring her nearly witless for a moment, there was no real harm done.

He'd gotten rid of her hiccups for her. If anything she owed him.

What she still couldn't figure out is how the poor guy ended up hog tied. She hadn't really seen what had happened, but she had heard a lot of yelping.

The pink haired girl reached out and grasped Shay's hand in a lightning fast move that made her flinch a little bit and she was sure that she saw a small flicker of some unnameable expression on the girl's face before she started telling Shay that blondie 'Naruto' wasn't a bad guy or anything, he had just been sneaking up behind her because he was curious about her.

She was traveling with Gaara after all. And that sort of made all of them curious, but they were much better at self control that Naruto was.

Shay blinked again and gave the girl an strained smile as she started babbling so fast that she couldn't keep up with what the girl was saying until she heard her say. "We'll be great friends-" After which Shay had stupidly nodded her head in agreement and the girl had shrieked and hugged her so hard that she had almost broken her back before letting her go.

Shay rubbed her back for a moment as Gaara walked over to them and grasped the pink haired girl's arm and whispered something in her ear causing the girl's eyes to widen as a shocked expression crossed her face and she quickly apologised to Shay for squeezing so hard and then offered to check her over after commenting that she was a medic.

Shay gave her another strained smile and shook her head. "No. No. That's okay. No harm done." Shay said quickly before introducing herself. "I'm Shay Circe."

The pink haired girl smiled pleasantly and said. "My name is Sakura. You've already met Naruto. The guy over there in the half shirt with the sort of creepy smile is Sai. Next to him is Yamoto-taichu and the big guy over there stepping on Naruto, with the mask and the silver hair is Kakashi-sensei."

Shay nodded to the men and gave a small awkward wave with the hand that Sakura was still holding onto. "Hello."

"Hello." The brunette with the wide dark eyes and spiked hair said politely.

"Sorry about scaring you..." Naruto said weakly.

"It's very nice to meet you-" The guy with the creepy smile said before turning his head and asking the one in the face mask. "Do you think she would like being friends?"

"Dunno. You could try asking her." The guy with the silver hair said kindly as Shay thought, _What a bizzare crew of misfits..._ They sort of reminded her of some of her child hood friends back home. As soon as the thought crossed her mind she was hit by a sudden bought of home sickness.

Something must have shown in her expression without her knowing it because one minute everyone was talking and joking around and the next Gaara was next to her, one of his arms sliding around her waist as she rubbed her eyes to keep any of the tears she had felt welling up from falling and said gently, "I think it's time for you to take a rest. You didn't nap for very long earlier." As he turned her around and walked with her over to the carriage and helped her back inside and watched her as she stretched out on her back on one of the seats before closing the door and leaving her alone.

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"Is she okay Gaara?" Naruto asked as he finally managed to shrug off the ropes binding him and sat up as Gaara returned to the group. The Kage looked at him and sighed.

"She's fine Naruto. She's just having some trouble adapting to her new life." It wasn't exactly a lie that Gaara was telling them, but it wasn't exactly the truth either. Shay was having a little bit of difficulty adapting to her new surroundings. But that was mostly because she was such an fiercely independent person and was used to living a certain way.

Although she had more or less integrated herself as one Sauna's citizens easily enough despite the conditions that Gaara had laid down for her. "New life?" Sakura asked curiously. Gaara nodded his head and rubbed his face with his hands.

Gaara made a humming sound then said. "I'll tell you everything just let me have a word with Naruto in private." Everyone exchanged a look and quickly walked away leaving Gaara and Naruto alone...sort of.

Gaara wrinkled his nose and looked from one tree to another knowing damn well that each one of Naruto's team was hiding behind some of the trees surrounding them in the hopes that they could hear what he would say to Naruto.

Because apparently Tsunade had decided to keep everyone in the dark. _Damn_ her hide. "So what's up Gaara?"

"Well. I'm not sure what Tsunade has told you about what happened at the Kage summit-" Naruto snorted and stuffed his hands in his pockets and gave Gaara a grim smile.

"She hasn't told us much of anything aside from the fact that Madara has declared war on all of us." Gaara made that humming sound again and reached into the pouch around his waist and fished out the book that Shay had been found with.

"It figures that she would make things _difficult_ on me-" Gaara muttered as he handed Naruto the book. Naruto took the book and frowned a little bit as he turned it this way and that before trying to hand it back.

"I have a copy already."

Gaara made a frustrated sound and pushed the book against his chest. "On the first page, there is a note to you from Lord Jiraiya. I found it along with something else that was obviously meant for you."

Naruto blinked at him, his azure eyes going wide before he flipped the cover open to the first page and scanned over the short note that the former Toad Sage had left for him and scowled before looking back at Gaara. "It says that he was sending someone to help me fight against Madara. A woman from the looks of it."

"Yes." Gaara said softly as Naruto closed the book and looked at him.

"But Gaara, I never received a woman from him. Especially not one described in this letter. For all I know Madara has already found out about this person and-"

"He hasn't."

"Huh? How do you know?"

"The woman I brought with me. She was found unconscious after Sauske attacked the Kage summit. She was dressed strangely and had that book on her, and Madara tried to convince us to hand her over to him. When he refused he tried to turn us against each other in the hopes that one of us would kill her for him-"

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Shay lay in the carriage trying to rest when she suddenly felt a strange fissure of pressure running up her spine and opened her eyes and stared blankly ahead for a moment seeing nothing but the cream colored roof of the carriage for a moment before everything in her vision turned white and she could see several men in black and brown clothes and strange face masks hiding in the trees, their sights on the group of people surrounding the carriage.

Her heart stuttered in her chest and she pushed herself upright as she heard someone say.

_"You know the plan. Madara-sama wants the woman. Kill everyone else." _Followed by images of blood. It was so frightening that Shay couldn't hold back the terrified scream that rose in her throat.

"_Gaara!_"


	15. Chapter 15

Her heart stuttered in her chest and she pushed herself upright as she heard someone say.

_"You know the plan. Madara-sama wants the woman. Kill everyone else." _Followed by images of blood. It was so frightening that Shay couldn't hold back the terrified scream that rose in her throat.

"_Gaara!_"

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"Wait. Why would the pervy sage send a woman? Why not send me a weapon? An actual useful one." Naruto asked curiously as Gaara leaned his back against a tree trunk and sighed.

"I think he did send you a useful weapon Naruto. The note mentioned her being a descendant of the Great Sage-"

"Yeah I saw that, but I thought that the Great Sage was just a myth." Naruto said as he frowned.

Gaara shook his head slowly. To be honest he had thought so too until doing research. After gathering enough historical documents he had found that the Great Sage actually had lived. That he had founded the shinobi way of life and taught others about chakra and that he had also lived the last days of his life in the Leaf village. He had married and had children. And those children had had children of their own and after several generations and the ever passing sands of time, his legend had been all but lost.

There was one thing however that Gaara had found very interesting about the Great Sage's descendants.

One could be traced to the Namikage blood line.

One could be traced to the Hatake blood line.

One could be traced to the Uchiha.

And as odd as it had seemed, after some difficulty, Gaara had traced another blood line. Perhaps even more pure than the other ones to a foreign village of people who had supposedly been killed out decades ago. The Circe clan.

"Nope. He was real. I traced his blood line to several different clans, most of them have all but died out. But I managed to trace Shay's blood line and found that it was one of the purest and carried with it some of the most unique blood line limits thought to have become extinct years ago. Apparently _someone_ escaped death and hid themselves away long enough to restart the blood line but as far as I could tell from talking with Shay...she's the last-" _Or at least she would be without the baby._ Gaara thought soberly.

Naruto mulled over Gaara's words and the implications behind them. "And because she's the last, she's a threat. God what was the pervy sage thinking dragging an innocent woman into this shit?" Naruto growled in irritation as he ran his fingers through his spiky blond hair.

"He was thinking that regardless of what may or may not happen, she would be a target in one way or another."

Naruto looked at him, his expression puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Look at like this Naruto. If Shay does in fact carry such powerful and unique blood line limits, then she wouldn't be allowed to live for long depending on who saw her as a threat-" Naruto had a blank look on his face and Gaara sighed. God how did this person become such a great hero with so little brains? Honestly someone with the brain power of a walnut and the attention span of a flea should have died long ago.

It just supported Kankuro and Temari's claims that the blond was a freak of nature.

"Alright lets try a different approach to this. Lets say that Shay lived in the Leaf village and that everyone knew about her abilities. Now lets say that because of her abilities, she was married off and used to re start her blood line by having children. They could be a real advantage to the village once they got older. Now lets say that someone_ inside_ and _outside_ of the village decided that she and her blood line were a threat to their plans to attack the village, or assassinate the Hokage. What do you think would happen to her?"

Naruto's eyes widened slightly as everything started to sink in. "She would be killed-" Things might even play out for her like they had for Sauske. It was a chilling thought. "But Gaara if her blood line limits are that great, wouldn't she be able to save herself?" Naruto asked. The need to gather as much information as possible forcing the words from his mouth before he even registered speaking.

"Dunno. Strong blood line limits are like double edged swords. People with very strong blood line limits are often consumed and killed by them." Gaara said matter of factly.

Naruto was about to ask something else when a loud ear splitting scream came from the carriage thirty feet away. Both Gaara and Naruto looked towards the carriage, their eyes narrowing slightly as the door opened and Shay all but spilled out of it and onto the ground screaming almost hysterically. "Gaara!"

Gaara didn't say anything he just pushed away from the tree that he had been leaning up against and ran over to Shay as Kakashi and the others all came out of hiding and made their way over to her too. Gaara pushed his way through the small crowd of Anbu that he had brought along and found one of his nins trying to calm the girl down as she tried to tell him that someone was coming.

The man might have dismissed her words as nothing more than a bad dream but Gaara knew that something was wrong from the way that she kept looked towards the trees with her wide frightened eyes. Reaching out he tapped his fellow sand nin on the shoulder and told him and the others to go scouting.

The man looked like he was going to argue for a moment but stopped when Gaara gave him a dark look and sighed and stood up and pulled Shay to her feet with him and handed her off to one of the leaf nins and barked out several quick orders and disappeared as Gaara reached out and placed one hand on Shay's nape and leaned in and asked her what was wrong.

She lifted her head and looked at him and he sucked in a breath when their eyes met and held. Her eyes...

Her usually violet eyes, were a milky white with pale blue rings resembling the Rennegan as she said. "Madara has sent someone to kill you all..." An instant later there were a series of shouts coming from the trees where Gaara's nins had disappeared to followed by the clashing of kunai and other weapons as Gaara hissed as fury spiked his blood.

"Protect Shay." He said in a dangerously low tone as he turned and took off in the direction of the fighting.


	16. Chapter 16

_All hell was breaking loose._

_Literally. _

_No sooner than Gaara gone off to help his comrades, than the leaf nins found themselves victim of a sneak attack. Apparently whoever was attacking had decided to go with the old divide and conquer plan._

_And it worked wonderfully since the leaf nins soon found themselves scattered as Yamoto used his earth jutsu to create a large wooden cage around Shay before it shot up into the air so that she was well out of the way as an explosive tag hit the ground in front of him and he just barely managed to jump back out of harms way before it blew up, shaking the thick base of the wooden cage and causing the top to sway precariously._

_Shay's back slammed into one of the thick wooden bars causing her to cry out in pain as her eyes teared up. God what the fuck was going on? She wondered as she pushed away from the bars against her back and moved to the ones in front of her and braced her hands on two bars and peered down, down, down and saw the people below, she was so high up that they looked like little colorful dots moving about._

_She could hear the faint clang of metal against metal, could hear someone swearing loudly on the ground below and curled her finger tips into the wood. Be careful. Please be careful. Please. Please. Please... She thought anxiously as she watched the scene helplessly..._

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Naruto looked down at the nin laying at his feet through narrowed blue eyes as he reached up and wiped at the blood running down the side of his face as he looked over at Sakura then glanced towards Sai, absent mindedly checking them over before looking towards Kakashi and Yamoto.

They all looked okay.

Bruised and a little bloody, but other wise okay. "Is everyone alright?" Kakashi called out to the younger nins who were standing in various places fifty feet away from him. Naruto lifted a hand and sort of waved. Signling the copy nin that he was fine as Sakura and Sai did the same.

Off to the right of them Gaara and five of his nins came out of the woods limping and bleeding, one guy was being half carried half dragged by another guy, all of them looking ragged and weary. "Gaara, how many did you lose?" Kakashi asked as he scanned the trees, waiting for some sign of the other sand nins.

Gaara looked over his shoulder back at the trees and growled. "Four. The enemy had some sort poison wielder among them. He managed to get close enough to the others to scratch them and that was it-"

"Did he use some sort of poison?" Sakura asked as she walked over to the red head. Gaara made a funny sound then hissed.

"He used acid of some sort. It's specifically designed to get into the blood stream and from there it liquefies your organs and bones. It was fast acting too. They were dead before they knew what had happened."

Naruto gave a sympathetic cringe, obviously thinking something along the same lines that Gaara was thinking about the acid. Those poor bastards. "Where is Shay?" Gaara asked as he took a moment to move over to a tree and flop down on the grass and look around.

"I've got her." Yamoto said as he pointed to a thick wooden trunk sticking out of the ground fifteen feet away. Gaara looked at the trunk, then followed it up to the little cage swaying back and forth in the wind and narrowed his eyes before growling.

"Get her down from there please." He didn't want her to be covered in bruises when she got out of the damn thing.


	17. Chapter 17

Shay took the hand offer to her and curled her fingers around it and let the man with the brown hair pull her out of the wooden cage and took a moment to look around at the bodies laying strewn around the small clearing and closed her eyes and tried to fight down the urge to throw up.

This was horrible.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and opened her eyes expecting to see Gaara and instead met the concerned green eyes of the girl, Sakura. "Are you okay?" The girl asked curiously as Shay lifted her hands and placed them against her stomach out of habit.

"Y-Yeah. I'm...fine..." Shay said in a shaky tone as she looked the girl over. She looked okay, the full severity of her wounds was limited to the small cut on her cheek and the bluish yellow bruise forming on her left upper arm. "Are you okay?"

Sakura smiled at her. "I'm fine-" Then she turned her head and asked the silver haired man. "Is everyone else okay? Is there anyone in need of medical attention?"

There was a short series of 'no's from the others in the group and the pinkette grinned. "Fantastic. No work for me!" Sakura said as Shay caught the silver haired guy staring at her as if he had a coffin he wanted her to buy or something. He was giving her such a chilling look that she had to bite her bottom lip to keep from whimpering as she wrapped her arms around her stomach and doubled over a little bit.

Gaara, seeing her distress, walked over to her and grabbed her wrists and started firing questions at her as he looked her over with a concerned look on his face. His mind already thinking the worse. "Are you wounded?"

"N-No."

"Any pain in your stomach? Cramping? Discomfort of _any_ kind?" Shay quickly shook her head a pink flush working it's way across her face. God this was embarrassing. But she understood his concern. He was worried about the baby, after all.

"Gaara, what's wrong? Why are you so worried?" Naruto asked as he walked over to the Kage and carefully pried his hands from Shay's wrists and frowned, his blue eyes flickering form Shay to Gaara as Sakura came walking back over and pushed both men aside and smiled at Shay and asked if she could put her hand on Shay's stomach.

Shay blushed a little bit and looked uncomfortable for a second but let Sakura place her hand over her stomach and felt a peculiar pressure under her skin and had to tamp down on her impulse to freak out like she had when Gaara's personal doctors had looked at her.

Sakura's mind was abuzz with information the second that she had touched Shay. She could pick up on the tiny life developing inside of the girl and couldn't help but wonder if the reason that Gaara was so worried, maybe, had something to do with him being the father. She kept her examination brief, her touch light, and finished checking the girl then smiled at her and stepped away.

"She's fine Gaara. But your starting to stress her out with all of your worrying. Tone it down some okay." Sakura said gently as she brushed past the Kage and walked over to Kakashi and the others and whispered.

"We need to talk."

Kakashi and the others nodded their heads and quickly made their excuses and separated themselves from the group.

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"Does anyone else think that that attack was just a little bit suspicious?" Kakashi said more to himself than the others. Yamoto and Sai both nodded their heads.

They thought that the attack on their group had been more than a little suspicious, and rightly so since _no one_ should have known that they were meeting the Kazekage way out here. And then there was the girl, Shay. Her knowledge of the attack before hand was more than a little suspicious in it's own way.

But they had all heard Gaara say that she carried some very powerful blood line limits when they had eavesdropped on Gaara and Naruto's conversation earlier. "You don't think that that girl is a spy or something do you?" Yamoto asked curiously.

Kakashi frowned and went over several different things in his mind. At this point it would be difficult to say if the girl was a spy or not because there was simply no real evidence to support their theory, they had nothing to go on but a possible coincidence.

Still that didn't mean that the girl didn't need to be watched. She did.

For several reasons.

1) She was traveling with Gaara.

2) She could be using her feminine wiles to trick him into letting his guard down so that she could kill him.

3) The suspicious nature of her warning before the attack.

There were probably more reasons, but the copy nin couldn't name them right now. Kakashi looked at Sakura and tilted his head to the side as he crossed his arms over his chest and asked."What did you find when you examined her Sakura?"


	18. Chapter 18

_Kakashi blinked his one blue eye. Yamoto's jaw was on the ground. And Sai...was pulling out a small book and flipping through it like mad in an effort to figure out what he should do. _

_"She's pregnant. Your totally sure about this Sakura?" Kakashi asked in a slightly shaky tone. Sakura nodded her head. _

_"Afraid so. And Gaara is probably the father too." _

_"How can you be so sure?" Yamoto asked in a whispered tone when he was finally able to pull himself together.  
_

_"You saw the way he fusses over her. Who else but a lover or a father to be would fuss over a woman in her condition?" Sakura said as Sai finally found the chapter that he had been looking for and made a happy sound as his dark eyes scanned the pages before snapping his book closed and quickly asking. _

_"Sakura may I practice on you?" _

_Sakura blinked and turned her head a little bit to look at him. Practice what? She wondered as she nodded her hand and let out a shriek when Sai suddenly picked her up and spun her around, grinning like a mad man as he said, "Oh Yoko my darling! I'm so happy. I'll be a good father to your child, I swear-" _

_"What the hell are you talking about you idiot! You don't say that to someone that you don't know!" Sakura growled before punching him. _

_Kakashi and Yamoto both cringed in sympathy and waited for things to settle down a little bit before saying. "Alright, here's the plan. We are going to watch that girl and if she is a spy or whatever...we'll have to get rid of her."_

_"Hai." Everyone said in agreement before they turned and made their way back to the camp.  
_

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Naruto looked at the cards in his hand and then looked at the girl, Shay and frowned as he picked out several cards with the same number on them and placed them down on the ground between them. "Do you have any sevens?" He asked as he narrowed his eyes at her, checking her expression for any signs of cheating.

Shay giggled and he sighed knowing what was coming. "Go fish."

_Damn._ Naruto thought as he pulled an ace from the deck and put it in his hand and looked up when he heard someone coming up behind him and smiled when he saw that it was Sakura and Kakashi. Sakura leaned down a little bit and wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck and peeked over his shoulder as Kakashi sat down on the ground to his left. "What are you doing?" The copy nin asked curiously as he looked first at Naruto then at Shay, all traces of suspicion and shock gone from his features.

"Playing cards-" Shay said before asking Naruto. "Got any fives?"

Naruto growled and pulled out three fives and handed them to her before grumbling. "Getting my ass kicked. Damn girl has a hell of a poker face." Shay giggled and set aside her little pile of fives.

"It could be worse, Naruto-san. We could be playing war or poker. I kick ass at both of those games too." Naruto looked at her and perked up a little bit. He'd never heard of the game 'war' and wondered if maybe he could beat her at that.

"I'm losing this game-" Naruto said as he lowered his cards. "Do you mind if we play something else instead?" He asked. Shay smiled at him and picked up her cards and then the deck and set them in her lap as she held out her hand for his cards and them added them to the growing pile in her hand.

"I know a game that we can play where no one loses."

Naruto perked up instantly and looked interested. "Really? What's it called? How do you play?"

"I'm not really sure what it's called but the way you play is like this-" Shay shuffled the deck several times then grasped his hand and placed the shuffled deck in it then said. "Hold these for a second while I explain. Okay, there are fifty two cards in the deck. The low cards mean no. Sixes and sevens, and eights mean maybe. And nines and above, including the face cards mean yes. The aim of the game is to ask fifty two yes or no questions. They can be about anything. They can be serious or silly. But you have to go through all of the cards. Because the last one is supposed to be good luck. But if the last card is an Ace of hearts, you get one wish. And it will come true with in a year."

Kakashi propped his elbow on his leg, and then settled his chin in his palm, curious to see if there was maybe a special jutsu or something attached to this game and decided to watch the girl and make sure that she didn't try anything funny as Sakura sat down in between Kakashi and Naruto so that she could watch too while, Gaara, Sai and Yamoto all made their way over to watch too.

Naruto nodded his head in understanding and they all watched as she took the deck from his hand and held it in hers as she waited for his first question.

Naruto frowned for a second then asked, "Is it okay to ask a few practice questions to see if the cards are paying attention?"

Shay blinked and smiled. "Sure."

"Okay then. Do I have a friend named Sauske?" Shay flipped the first card to show an Ace of spades and set it down. After that Naruto asked a series of questions ranging form serious to bizarre and finally when there were only three cards left he finally asked.

"Will Sakura-chan ever go out on a date with me?" Shay flipped the first card over to reveal an ten of hearts. Naruto grinned and rubbed his hands together and took the card from Shay and stuck it in his pocket then asked seriously.

"And will that date be a pity date?" Shay flipped the second card and showed him the twelve of spades and Naruto sighed and hung his head for a second then perked up again and shrugged, then said.

"Whatever. I'll take it. Now for my last question-" Naruto said, suddenly looking more serious than anyone had ever seen him look before. "Will there really be a war?"

Shay sighed softly and flipped the card, afraid to look at it because she knew that it would be the Ace of hearts. Naruto reached out and took the card from her hand and stared at it for a second. Unsure of what to think.

So far the mentions of war were nothing but rumors. But for some reason that he couldn't explain, seeing the Ace of hearts seemed to drive the rumor home and make it real. It was terrifying to think that soon he and his friends, his village, his very way of life would be shattered by so much blood shed and death.

"You should make your wish Naruto." Shay said gently, her voice jolting the blond out of his thoughts.

"Y-Yeah. Sorry... I-I just don't know what to wish for." Naruto said uneasily.

Shay gave him an understanding look then said. "Then keep it simple. Wish for _all _of your friends, and _everyone_ else to come out of the war alive."

Naruto gave her a doubtful look for a second before saying, "That sounds like a bit of a tall order. Can a wish that big be granted?"

"Big wishes are always granted Naruto-san. Maybe not in the way that you expect them to be, or even when you expect them to be, but they always are." Shay said seriously as Naruto studied her before nodding his head and making his wish.


	19. Chapter 19

Kakashi picked up the deck of card and absently lifted his left hand to push his head band back away from his Sharigan and shuffled the cards to check them for any seals or formula's and scowled when he couldn't find anything.

He made a frustrated sound and flipped through the cards, recalling every one of Naruto's questions and every number and face card, every negative and positive answer down to the last. He didn't understand how the girl had done the trick, or how the positive answers had coincided with the personal questions that Naruto had asked about himself and the rest of them.

Questions like. Did Sai work for Root? and Was Sakura a super strong medical nin? and then there was the most personal question of all, the one that had set Kakashi's teeth on edge. Had Kakashi gotten his Sharigan from one of his friends?

Like that was anyones damn business.

But then Naruto's questions had gotten more than personal, he had asked innocent questions that had bordered on classified material. Named names and mission ranks and places that he shouldn't have known about.

Shit that only the Hokage of other Anbu should have known.

Which was why he was trying to figure out how the trick worked. Because if he didn't, then chances were good that they were dealing with a spy who had enough information to bring down the village without even lifting a finger.

He flipped a few more cards and mentally went over the questions some more and stopped when the girl, Shay? Was that her name? He thought so, but hadn't really been paying attention earlier, came walking out of the tent that Gaara had put up for her after dinner, wearing a white and pink peony dress, and wearing what looked like one of Gaara's large shirts over the top of it. Her long hair had been washed and hung in damp waves and curls loosely around her face and shoulders.

He blinked at her and the quickly picked up the cards and shuffled them as she came over to the camp fire and sat back down in the same place that she had sat during her game with Naruto and held her hands out towards the flames to warm them as she said. "You don't look very happy about something. Is anything wrong?"

He glanced at her and shifted a little closer to her and set the deck down next to her. "Would you mind playing that question game again?" He asked nicely so that he wouldn't arouse her suspicion since he was trying to gather information on her.

She blinked at him and picked up the deck and turned her body so that she was facing him and tucked her legs under her and waited.

"Are you a spy?" She flipped the first card and showed him the two in her hand then laid it aside.

"Are you fishing for information on the leaf village and it's people?" She flipped the second card, showing another two and he grunted. This wasn't going the way that he had hoped. He still couldn't tell if she was using a jutsu of some kind.

He asked a few more questions and growled when all he got was low cards.

Shay sighed tiredly and quietly set the remaining cards down in front of him, and he gave her a funny look. "I think you can finish this game on your own Kakashi-san." She said coolly as she started to get up when he reached out and grabbed her hand, stopping her.

"No. I can't. I haven't been able to figure out how you answer the questions truthfully or how you use the cards to lie."

"I don't use them for either purpose, Kakashi-san. Now please, let me go. I'm very tired of you insulting me with your questions. So I'll say this once before I go to bed and I want you to _really_ listen, I am in no way interested in you, your friends, your village or_ anything_ else. I'm not out to get information. I'm not a spy. I just _want_ to be left alone."

Kakashi studied her through narrowed eyes for a moment then slowly forced his fingers to uncurl from around her wrist. She just looked so sincere that he couldn't help but think that she actually meant what she said. It threw him a little bit.

Which may have contributed to her escape from his grasp while he just sat there like a fool.

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Okay here is this chapter.

I'll update again when I can.


	20. Chapter 20

Shay didn't recall much of the trip to the leaf village.

Mainly because she hadn't been awake when everyone had broke camp. Gaara had slipped into her tent about an hour before they had left and relocated her to the carriage after fixing it so that she would be able to sleep more comfortably and the next thing she knew, she had woken up just as they were entering what was left of the devastated village.

The carriage door opened and she blinked as Naruto filled the door way, a cheerful grin on his face as he offered her his hand and waited patiently for her to take it as he tried to start up a small conversation with her. "Hey there sleepy head. Did you rest well?"

Shay blinked again and lifted her hands to rub the grit from her eyes as she nodded her head mutely then took his hand and let him help her down from the carriage while Gaara and one of the other guys-Sai? Or was it Yamoto? Helped get the luggage down off of the top of the carriage while several other people came running up to greet the Kage.

"I slept fine, thanks." Shay finally said as she looked around.

There were row after row after row of tents all over the wooded area, there were thirty or forty huge piles of brick and wood planks piled in several different areas, and people running all over the place around the tents and around in the large crater that she could see off to her left about a half mile away where there were no trees.

"It looks like a meteor hit over there..." Shay said without thinking and flinched a little bit when Naruto's hand spasmodically tightened around hers to the point of pain, his smile faltered a little bit for a second before he looked away and let go of her hand.

"Yeah. Sorry that the village is in such a state-"

"Don't be. I've seen areas destroyed like this before. The pain wrought by just_ one_ thoughtless person is often shared by the linked hearts of _millions_-" Naruto looked at her strangely. He wasn't the only one. Several of the others had over heard her words and were looking at her strangely too as she turned her head and looked at the blond. "My heart goes out to your people Naruto. It really, really does. Did you hold a memorial for the ones lost?"

Naruto blinked at her, finding her question just a little bit odd, but nodded his head anyways. "Yeah. It took about a week, but we were able to locate the few who were killed. After they had all been identified we held a mass funeral for them."

"If I can find some flowers, would you mind taking me to pay my respects to them?" Again Naruto blinked. He wasn't exactly sure what to say to her. He'd never felt so bowled over before.

"Uh..." Naruto started to answer her when Sakura and Yamoto swooped in and saved him.

"I'll help you find some flowers." Yamoto said kindly as he walked over to them carrying a small bag. Sakura smiled at Shay and linked their arms together.

"And I'll go with you. I've been meaning to go by the memorial to pray for the people that we lost."

Shay gave Sakura a small smile, her expression usually somber. She was finding it hard to believe that anyone could smile in the wake of such loss. She couldn't help but wonder how many people had buried their loved ones.

And she couldn't help but feel more than a little angry on their behalf.

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Okay, here is this chapter.

The next one will start a few days after her arrival in the village. Before the Kage's meet again to talk about the war.

I'll work on it, but don't look for the next chapter tonight just in case.


	21. Chapter 21

Three days later-

Shay paced the small house sized tent that she had been given to live in while in the Leaf village.

The tent was a cozy place, well protected from the wind and rain by the large trees it was wedged between, and had come fully furnished with a bed, a dresser, a vanity, an attached bathroom with a brick wall built around it where she could shower and use the bathroom when she needed too without worry about her privacy being disturbed.

There was even a small battery operated kitchen that consisted of a medium sized fridge, and a small stove, including a water pump attached to a small sink, complete with dishes and pots and pans. There were several battery operated lights attached to the rough clothe walls surrounding her.

All and all it was rather cool for a tent. And she _was_ fairly comfortable.

But she couldn't help but still feel trapped since she hadn't been allowed to leave her tent since the first night she had stepped foot in the damn thing. How did these people expect her to settle in and relax when they were treating her (more or less) like a prisoner? She needed to get out and walk around-

_And where the hell was Gaara?_ She hadn't seen him since the other day too! And she was starting to get just a little bit pissed about being trapped and not having anyone to talk too.

She stopped pacing for a second when she felt a sudden bought of dizziness and felt herself go still instinctively so that she didn't end up too woozy and accidentally fall. She stood in the center of the tent for all of ten seconds when the flap to the opening was thrown open and Naruto peeked in. "Hello, Miss Shay. If your up would you like to-" He stopped speaking as soon as he noticed her and blinked his azure eyes as if he was suprised to find her standing there in the middle of the tent.

Shay turned her head a little bit and looked at him as the dizziness passed and breathed a small sigh of relief. God she did not want to collapse in this place. She didn't care how many people were around, or if they were like super badass ninja's or whatever.

Her deeply rooted fear is that she might collapse and not be found for days or even weeks. There was no basis for her fear; but whoever said fears were rational had been lying through their teeth and deserved a good punch in the face for their bald faced lie.

"Have you ever heard of knocking?" Shay asked in a bemused tone. Naruto gave her a sheepish smile as he flushed.

"Sorry Miss Shay. I would have knocked if there was an _actual_ door here." Naruto said gently. Shay made a humming sound and walked up to him and asked curiously.

"And what would you have done if you had walked in on me changing or something?" Naruto got a funny look on his face and gave her a once over and thinned his lips to suppress the devious grin threatening to show itself.

That was by far one of the _stupidest_ questions he had ever heard.

And under normal circumstances he would have simply answered and be done with it. But today however the blond knuckle head seemed to have woken up feeling particulaly mischivious. "That sounds like a trick question."

"Does it?" Shay asked in an innocent tone that reminded Naruto of Sakura's tone before she punched him for something. Naruto kept his lips thinned and nodded his head and forced a somber expression on his face.

"Yes it does. For several reasons. The first one being; that I'm an adult-"

"Child." Shay said with a small smirk curving her lips. Naruto made a small choking sound and shook his head.

"_Adult_-" He said firmly as he pointed to his headband. Shay gave him an 'Oh' look and let him continue. "And also a healthy male with a keen interest in the female anatomy-" Shay wrinkled her nose a little bit and snorted.

"Your a virgin then." Naruto gaped at her with a horrified expression on his face. Oh no! She had him figured out! He couldn't let the others find out that he was still a-

They might turn him over to Kakashi, or Ebisu or worse yet- Iruka. To help him lose his-

_Oh god!_ "Nu-uh." Naruto denied her accusation in a weak tone.

"Liar. I wonder what Sakura-chan would say about-" Shay started to say and had to force herself to stop as he all but ran across the tent and slapped a hand over her mouth and hissed from between his teeth as his face turned a nice shade of red.

"Alright. Alright. I get it. Next time I'll knock!" Shay reached up and pried his hand from her mouth and laughed at the horrified expression on his face as something clicked into place in her mind and she shrieked excitedly, the sound startled Naruto if the way he jumped and tensed was any indication at all.

"You like Sakura." Naruto's face turned a deeper shade of red and his eyes widened a little bit and he stared at her as he slowly, _very_ slowly shook his head no. His expression mortified as Shay's expression turned predatory...


	22. Chapter 22

For Calypso Tchaka-

For begging so comically.

(I sort of owe you anyways.) And don't ever say that I don't love you...

Here is a chapter just for you.

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"So how are you liking your stay in the village so far?" Naruto asked as he held the tent flap back for Shay so that she could slip outside. She ducked down a little bit and slipped out of the tent and stepped to the side a little bit so that he wouldn't run into her when he came out of her temporary home.

"It's...a little..."

"Lonely? Irritating to be stuck indoors?" Naruto supplied helpfully, trying to avoid actually saying that he had noticed her pacing back and forth in her tent as he had walked up. Shay gave the blond a dirty look that had him grinning in amusement.

He knew that she must be feeling annoyed at being confined to her tent while in the village. But after observing Shay for the entire three days she had been confined to her tent, he had sort of come to understand how her mind worked (when she wasn't being a sadist and blackmailing him that is).

Shay was annoyed at being confined. But at the same time she understood why she had been confined. Just like she probably knew that Gaara and Tsunade had both posted a few nins to watch over her tent both day and night to ensure that 1) She wasn't attacked by assassins sent by Madara. And 2) To keep an eye on her just in case she was an enemy.

Frankly Naruto thought it was both genius and stupid to send a pregnant woman to spy and stuff. Genius because if it was determined that she was an enemy, Tsunade wouldn't kill her because of the baby. She could however lock her up to keep her out of trouble until the baby was born. Then kill her. Unless Shay claimed that whoever had sent her had threatened the life of her baby.

Then she would probably get off with a warning and a few people to shadow her for a while.

But at the same time it was also stupid because of the risk she was taking while carrying an innocent life. There were many hazards to spying on a shinobi village.

"It is a little bit irritating to be stuck indoors. But I understand the reasons and know that your leader is trying to protect your people. So if it's for the good of your people, I can put up with a little cabin fever. Who knows. Maybe I'll take up a hobby or something to pass the time." Naruto chuckled and made a mental note to talk to Iruka, Tenzou, Kiba, Neji and a few others to stop by Shay's tent and take her out for a walk every other day or so, so that she didn't go completely stir crazy.

"That might be a good idea. I'd suggest knitting since you've got a little one on the way, but I sort of had a bad run in with a pregnant lady and some knitting needles and now I'm traumatized. So if you take up knitting, you can probably expect me to disappear until sometime after the kid is born."

"I'll keep that in mind Naruto-san."

"Don't do that-" Naruto said as he caught the suffix at the end of his name. Shay looked up at him curiously.

"Do what?"

"Don't call me Naruto-san. It's just Naruto. Nothing more." Naruto said as he stuffed his hands in his pants pockets.

Shay frowned for a second and studied the young man before realising why he was telling her this. She had invertedly offended him in her misguided attempt to be respectful. "I'm sorry Naruto. I didn't mean to offend you." The young man glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes, his lips curved up a little bit.

How odd that she would pick up on the fact that he got offended by the use of suffixes so easily. It had taken years and constant reminders from him for even his closest friends to figure out that he hated being called San, Chan, Aniki, Kun, or anything else that could be attached to the end of his name. It always made his name sound more respectful, like _he_ was respected by others.

He hated it because it reminded him of everything he _tried_ so hard to be. And everything he would_ never_ be.

It reminded him of the expectations of the _millions_ who now depended on him as their protector, the new Toad Sage and sanin. It also reminded him of how he would let many of the people looking up to him, down in his effort to maintain the safety of the village.

It reminded him of the choices he would make-

Against his friends, his comrades, the defenseless citizens. The people that he would be forced to abandon and let die on the battle field. And the citizens that he wouldn't be able to save even though he may be standing right there next to them.

His small smile never faltered, even as he turned his head and smiled down at Shay with that forced smile of his. Trying to keep her from seeing just how_ badly_ her attempt at respect bothered him. "That's alrigh-" He started to say when her hand shot out and connected with his cheek hard enough to startle him.

He yelped and tripped over his feet and fell and lay on the ground looking up at her through wide, slightly scared eyes as Shay glared down at him and crossed her arms over her breasts. "Don't you ever stand there with that fake smile on your face and try to lie to me boy. Do you think I'm so stupid that I wouldn't recognise that your trying to hide yourself, your thoughts from me?"

"Wha?" Naruto said un intelligently. Unsure of what else to say. He hadn't expected Shay to really _see_ what he had been trying to do and the fact that she had seen though him when others couldn't was both_ frightening_ and _liberating_ to him.

Shay's glare softened a little bit and she sighed and uncrossed her arms and dropped down to her knees on the ground and stared at him for a second before saying. "I know very well that your thinking about the war and what will happen from here. So let me give you some advice that may be helpful to you sometime soon. Pay attention, because if I have to repeat myself, I'm going to smack you even harder next time." Naruto blinked at her, the threat of being smacked again causing his stunned mind to focus to avoid further pain.

"I know that your worried about the war and I also know that your worried about your friends and the village. And you _will_ have to face some very difficult and painful choices. This is what happens in all wars. I also know that it's sometimes hard to tell if your making the right choice. It's easy to doubt yourself when your going to have to choose between one life or another and it won't always be an _easy_ choice. Your going to have to see and do things in the name of your country, your people, and your friends that _no one_ should have to _see_ or _do_. I won't lie to you. It will be painful. Very painful. You'll be losing people that you thought would always be by your side, people that you've laughed, and cried with. And it will make your pain all that much more unbearable."

"But you have to remember that these are things that simply can't be avoided in war. Families will lose their husbands, their wives, fathers, mothers, children, sisters, brothers. Your going to lose friends. The ones close to you and the ones that you've become rivals with and one day hoped to be close to again. You'll lose teachers, comrades, and even people that you never really knew. Second guessing yourself half way through, even if it can save someone, will cost you more. All you can do is stand your ground. _Never_ back down, or say it's unfair even though you_ know_ that this is one of the cruelest fates you will ever face. Saying it's unfair will be the same as _belittling_ the ones who gave up everything for the future of the village _and_ it's people."

"Face the consequences. No matter how bad they are. Running away or dwelling on the past is _useless_. There will be a time for everything. If you make it, and you've lost everything, then you can mourn. But as long as there's even_ one_ person left alive- No matter who it is. Weather it's a total _stranger_ or someone you've _known_ all your life. Then you should feel _grateful_. Because you have something left to come home too. And the last piece of advice I can give you is this. If you want to be prepared for what comes next..._talk_ to some of the ones who have survived the hardships of war before. And make sure that you spend as much _time_ as you can with the ones who truly matter to you. You never know when you may lose them for good."

Naruto sat there in stunned silence for a moment and studied Shay. For some reason he got the feeling that she was speaking from personal experience. Memories of his late mentor, Jiriaya rose up in his mind as he thought he heard the ero-sage say like he had once before, long ago when Naruto had first started his training under the man.

_"Everyone is broken Naruto. There are no exceptions."_


	23. Chapter 23

Shortly after ending her speech, Shay helped him up and kissed him on the cheek that she had smacked and told him that she was sorry for hitting him, then quietly turned and walked back to her tent and disappeared inside before he could react. Leaving him alone to mull over her advice as he walked through the village.

He had been walking around in a great big circle for the past three hours thinking, and while part of him knew that Shay was right (damn her for being so perceptive) the other part of him was loathe to ask anyone who had survived the past shinobi wars to share their stories with him. Even though he understood why she had advised him to do so. Asking someone to share their horror would be dredging up painful memories, and add more stress to his already worried mind.

But again, he knew the reason why he should.

Again, _damn_ Shay.

He was on his his fourth walk around the whole village (ignoring the slight discomfort in his upper legs, his knees and feet) and walked on when someone dropped out of a one of the tree's just up ahead of him. Expecting to find Tenzou, Sai, Kakashi or one of his other friends, Naruto paused in mid step and looked up at Genma and blinked. "Yo Naruto." The man said in his normal friendly, slightly lazy tone as he walked over to the blond.

"Hey Genma. What are you doing out here?" Naruto asked curiously. To his knowledge Genma was supposed to be at his post, watching over the village. But the fact that the man was way on the other side of the sea of trees that surrounded the village where Naruto was, didn't bother the blond any since Genma had likely roped some poor schmuck into taking his place while he played hooky.

"Not much..." Genma said as Naruto started walking again, sort of forcing Genma to walk with him if he wanted to talk. "I saw you walking around earlier and you didn't seem like your usual cheerful self so I got kind of worried."

Naruto glanced over at the older man, careful to keep his expression blank. He'd been smacked once already today and didn't want to be smacked again. "Sorry Gen. I didn't mean to worry you. I was just thinking about something that someone told me about the upcoming war."

Genma looked at the boy, a spark of curiosity in his light brown eyes as he chewed on the tip of the senbon needle in his mouth. "Really? What did this person who has you out here killing brain cells thinking; say to you?"

Naruto took one of his hands out of his pockets and gave the man a playful shove at his remark about 'killing brain cells by thinking'. Honestly if Genma thought that thinking things over seriously once in a while killed a person's brain cells, they'd _all _be idiots by now. Every damn one of them.

"She said that I should talk to some veterans from the past shinobi wars to help prepare me for what is going to happen in the war. She thinks that it would be a good idea to prepare myself for the things that I'm going to have to face, and see, and do. And that talking to the veterans will help with that."

Genma mulled over Naruto's words and made a humming sound before saying. "Sakura's a smart girl Naruto. If she says to do that, then maybe you should."

Naruto glanced at Genma again, a dirty look on his face. He didn't want to do that, but he knew that Shay (and now Genma; the bastard) had a point. So he probably would do that... Later. Maybe. After thinking it over some more. "Sakura wasn't the one who suggested it Gen."

Genma got a surprised look on his face. "Really? Then who did? Ino? Tenten? Hinata?" Genma would eat his senbon needle if any of those little girls suggested something so- So tactical to Naruto. Naruto shook his head slightly.

"No. None of them. I doubt that even one of them would ever think to suggest something like this. They're still _too_ naive." _They were still too innocent to think of such a thing._ Naruto thought with a small smile.

"Then who?" Genma asked curiously.

"You know that girl that Gaara brought to the village?"

"The cute little red head?"

"Fuchsia, idiot. Her hair is fuchsia with red highlights to it."

Genma rolled his eyes. Not really caring to get into it about the girls hair color. "Yeah, I've heard of her."

"Well she's the one who suggested that I talk to the veterans. She also suggested a few other things."

"Oh? Like what?"

"I'd rather not say-" Naruto said. He really couldn't remember it all off the top of his head. There had simply been too many words to remember them all right off the top of his head. "But it was some damn good advice for a civilian." Naruto said as he stuffed his hand back into his pants pocket.

"She sounds like an interesting person."

"Oh, she is. And sharp as a bloody tack-" Naruto said as he took his hand out of his pocket again and rubbed the cheek that Shay had smacked as if it still stung. Genma noticed the action and cocked his head inquisitively. "She's got some fast reflexes too." Naruto said in a respectful tone that made Genma snicker.

"She clocked ya didn't she?"

"Like Sakura does when I piss her off. The only difference between them is that Shay's hit rattled me far more because I didn't _see_ it coming at all." Genma's eyes widened a little bit at the implications of Naruto's words.

Innocent as they may be, they were also rather telling about the person herself._ Maybe I should pay this gal a visit and check her out myself._ Genma thought as he glanced at Naruto out of the corner of his eye.

Anyone who could get the drop on Naruto, even in a small way, should be looked into and watched like a hawk. Especially considering that the kid _never_, ever dropped his guard.


	24. Chapter 24

Genma decided to pay the woman a visit early the next day, sometime after his watch shift had ended and had walked all the way from point A to point B and now stood just a few paces away from the woman that Naruto had told him about. At least he hoped that the woman that he was watching hang her laundry on a small clothes line to dry was the woman that Naruto had mentioned.

She had fuchsia/red hair, just like Naruto had said she did. But that didn't mean that she was the woman that Naruto had talked about.

For all he knew the woman that he was staring at right now was just some innocent girl doing her laundry.

Still the only real way to know if he had the right woman or not would be to walk up to her and talk to her...and for some reason he didn't really understand, he was balking.

Maybe it was the fact that he knew that she had managed to smack the be-Jesus out of Naruto that was stopping him cold or maybe it was the fact that he _knew_ that there was something odd about her and his highly trained senses were practically screaming at him to stay away from her.

Whatever the reason, he wouldn't let it stop him. He was about to step out from around the tree he was sort of 'hiding' behind when the woman started to sing, the silvery melodious sound of her voice stopping him cold so that he could listen.

_Came in from a rainy Thursday on the avenue. _

_Thought I heard you talking softly. _

_I turned on the lights the TV and the radio._

_But still I can't escape the ghost of you. _

_What is happening to me._

_Crazy some would say, _

_Where is the life that I recognize. _

_Gone away-_

_But I won't cry for yesterday, there's an ordinary world._

_Somehow I have to find._

_And as I try to make my way to the ordinary world, I will learn to survive-_

Shay had woken up this morning feeling nostalgic because of a dream that she had had about her family before her father had killed them. She had been three and she could recall that her father would come home from work on most nights at about the time she was supposed to be going to bed.

He would walk through the front door, drop his luggage, and walk down the hall to her room and kiss her mother on the cheek and then pick her up, pulling her out from under the covers of her little bed and cuddle her against his chest and run his fingers through her short curly hair and he would sing Ordinary World to her before putting her back into bed and kissing her good night.

She remembered that he did that up until the night he had killed everyone.

Every night he came home, regular as clock work.

It wasn't until later on that she had found out what he did for a living, and what his job did to people. And by then it had been too late to do anything about it.

Her family had been slaughtered by the one person that they should have been completely safe from. And in her father's sick state he had walked from room to room and slit the throats of her two older brothers, both of whom had come home from over seas to visit for the holidays.

Her younger brother, who had just been eight.

And then had gone to kill her mother before returning to her room with a gun in one hand and a bloody knife in the other. He'd laid the knife aside on her bed side table and had leaned down and kissed her cheek, whispering softly that he loved her.

That no matter what happened or what anyone said after that night, he would always love her.

He had then put the gun to his head, while standing next to her bed, and pulled the trigger. Death had been instant. And the sound had awakened her along with the feel of something warm and wet and sticky splattering across her face and neck.

She pulled another outfit from the wet bundle in the basket at her feet and hung it up, her voice never wavering as she recalled everything with such startling clarity even after almost thirteen years.

_Passion or coincidence. _

_What's prompted you to say? _

_Pride will tear us both apart._

_Now prides gone out the window across the rooftops-_

_Run away. Left me in the vacuum of my heart. _

_What is happening to me?_

_Crazy some would say. _

_Where is my friend when I need you most-_

_Gone away_

She recalled getting out of bed and turning on her bedside light and screaming in horror at the sight of her father in a half reclining position, half of his head had been missing. Brain matter and bone and blood spattered against her peach colored wall, his one eye, that deep vivid violet so like her own, staring blankly at her.

Her hands were starting to shake now. She couldn't help it, these memories had always been unpleasant for her. Everything since that night had been unpleasant for her. But she knew that once the dam had cracked, there would be no holding back the flood.

Still, she didn't stop singing even though she knew she was dangerously close to a panic attack. To fainting, or puking, or possible both.

And how humiliating would it be for all of the people walking around her tent, and watching her to see her have a melt down because she remembered a few things about her childhood? Before she had been scarred by the trauma of waking up that fateful night and finding everyone she had ever known or loved dead.

Genma studied the woman as she continued to sing and narrowed his eyes a little bit when he saw her hands shaking. Something was wrong. But he couldn't tell from here what it was. He'd have to get in close and see what was wrong.

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Naruto hadn't been able to sleep all night. He had just lain awake thinking.

Maybe Shay was right.

He shook his head and nearly growled at himself as he pulled his jacket on and ran his fingers through his spiky blond hair.

Of course she was right.

War was all about _painful_ choices. About who could kill who first. Who's beliefs were the strongest. And who had the most to lose.

It left people _damaged_, and in some cases broken_ beyond_ repair. By the time it was over, statistically speaking, over a third of the village and it's people would be gone. They would be captured, tortured, murdered in cold blood, missing; never to be found again.

At least fifty or more of the people out of that third, would become as warped and twisted as Sauske. They would endanger themselves, the ones around them...

He would have to ask Ino and her father if it was a good idea to give as many people as possible psych exams before letting them loose on the field. He wasn't sure about everyone else but he didn't want to have one of his comrades flip out during a battle and turn their kunai on him.

Nothing hurt more than having a trusted friend try to kill you.

He slipped his shoes on and walked out of his tent. He needed to go get groceries for Shay since she couldn't get them herself. Then he'd maybe invite himself to breakfast over at her place and observe her a little more closely before he went to find Kakashi and the others.

He sort of wanted to tell them what Shay had said and see what they thought of her idea.


	25. Chapter 25

Her blood felt like it was boiling. Her eyes stung, and it was suddenly so very hard to breathe.

_What's wrong with me?_ She had dealt with her grief over her families deaths. She had gone to therapy for years. She had taken the prescription pills that her doctors had given to her to help her sleep more peacefully.

She had tried to fit in with the people around her as a child. But certain noises, like the loud popping sounds one associated with guns, had terrified her. Every time she heard one of those sounds, she would burrow herself under her blanket late at night and cry because she was so scared that she would wake up and find another dead body in her room.

This had gone on for years after her families deaths until one day she had woken up feeling as if she was dangerously close to breaking completely and had decided to finally face her fear once and for all.

She had gone to a shooting range and had stood back against the far wall and listened to the sounds of weapons going off for what must have been hours before she had gone back home.

Her vision dimmed a little bit and when it came back she could swear that she could see her father standing right in front of her staring at her with once lively amethyst eyes. There was blood on his hands, spattered across his chest and face and he had such a desolate look on his face.

The shirt that she had been holding slipped from her hands as he opened his mouth and for the first time in almost thirteen years, her father's ghost spoke to her. _"Do you understand now why I did it_ _Shay? Do you understand?"_

No. She didn't understand.

Her father's ghost smiled at her and put one hand against his head. _"Do you know why I used to sing Ordinary World to you? There was a secret meaning." _

Shay frowned. What was he talking about? What secret meaning?

He moved a little closer to her. Shay blinked and found him standing directly in front of her, a small smile curving his lips._ "The world around you must seem so fascinating. That is because you haven't found your place in it yet. When you find your place, this world will become ordinary. And you will be extraordinary. Exactly what you were meant to be-"_ He stopped talking for a second and tipped his head back to stare at the sky. _"You'll have to make your way to the ordinary world, and learn to survive there." _

She still didn't understand. Why was she even talking to this murders ghost? Shouldn't she be screaming bloody murder or something?

_"You see so much and yet so little at the same time. Shay- There was a reason I killed them. If you would look deeper, you would find it." _Her father reached out-

And Shay could swear that she felt his hand on her cheek. It felt just as warm and comforting as his hands had always felt to her. _"You fight yourself too much. You need to stop that. Look deeper for your answers sweetheart. Once you do that, you'll finally find everything that you've ever needed to know." _

Shay's vision dimmed again and this time everything stayed black...

Genma stared down at the woman in his arms, unable to really figure out what had just happened. He'd walked up to her and introduced himself and asked her if she was okay. She had shaken her head no about a split second before her eyes had rolled back in her head and she had collapsed.

He made a huffing sound and glanced down at her again. Silently debating on weather he should leave her in her tent and go get help or if he should just sit tight and stay with her until she was feeling better.

If he stayed he could maybe observe her a little more. And he knew a little bit of medical jutsu. So until someone else came along, or at the very least he could figure out what had happened, it looked like he was stuck.


	26. Chapter 26

_What does a pregnant woman like to eat?_ Naruto wondered as he stared at the small bag of supplies that he had gathered for Shay and frowned.

He wished that he could ask someone but so far the only things that he could think of was that she would probably need more were eggs, bread, and milk. Although he had gotten at least a dozen bags of food for her.

He'd gotten every _nutritious_ food that he could think of plus some junk food just in case she had some cravings.

The sheer amount of milk, eggs, meats (he'd managed to steer clear of anything with hormones that could be damaging to the baby), vegetables and other things that he had managed to get for her were just a little bit staggering and had nearly wiped out his savings. But he figured that since she had a kid on the way then she probably needed the supplies more than he did since she wasn't trained to track, hunt and kill her own food like he was.

He was on his way to her tent, half a dozen shadow clones walking behind him with the rest of Shay's stuff in paper bags, when Kakashi appeared out of nowhere just up ahead, with Iruka. Naruto blinked and looked around for a second, wondering if he could disappear before they noticed him-

"Naruto!" Iruka called out to him and the blond sighed. Damn. He so was not looking forward to explaining why he had so many groceries to Iruka. The moment he so much as mentioned Shay or her condition to the chunin, Iruka would be all over him like white on rice wanting to know who Shay was. Why was she pregnant and even worse.

Was Naruto the irresponsible brat who had gotten her in the family way?

Then he would demand to know _why_ Naruto hadn't done the right thing by her and married her yet.

Kakashi would stay silent the entire time and Naruto would be so_ mortified_ by the whole experience that he would die a little bit inside. "Hi Iruka-sensei. Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said in a slightly nervous tone as Iruka and Kakashi walked up and looked at him. Then his clones and both men cocked their heads a little bit and just stared at him curiously.

Kakashi was the first to recover, figuring that Naruto must have gone grocery shopping for Shay since he was carrying twice as much as he usually did. And shook his head. Naruto must have not known what to get for the woman, he had over a dozen bags that Kakashi could see. Each one filled almost to overflowing.

_This boy-_ Kakashi thought fondly as he shook his head, he never thought that he would live to see the day when he thought that Naruto thought too much. But obviously he had to lived to see the day, and Naruto did think too much.

He also worried too much about things and always ended up second guessing himself when he shouldn't. "What are you doing with so much stuff Naruto?" Iruka asked in a shocked tone that made Kakashi turn his head to look at the younger man funny.

Naruto blushed a little bit and awkwardly shuffled his feet. "I was just running an errand." Naruto muttered softly.

"Doing the grocery shopping for Shay?" Kakashi asked without thinking if the dirty look he got from his former student was nay indication at all. Iruka looked at Kakashi questioningly.

"Who's Shay?" Shay sounded like a girl's name. Naruto didn't have a secret girlfriend did he? Iruka wondered as he looked back at Naruto as Kakashi answered him.

"She's this odd girl who reads people's futures using a deck of cards. She's got funny hair. She's sharper than a civilian should be-" Naruto kicked him in the shin, causing the jounin to yelp and jump back away from the blond and rub his sore shin as Naruto hissed.

"Shut the hell up Kakashi. She's a nice girl!" Iruka watched the exchange between the two and felt as if he had just hit the mischief jack pot. Naruto was acting like he was smitten or something and the fact that Naruto's face was almost as red as blood as he glared at Kakashi, who was now glaring back at him in a silent battle of wills; just seemed to confirm Iruka's belief.

Kakashi glared at Naruto, silently vowing retaliation for the kick to his shin and in a childish and evil display of vindictiveness he quickly said. "And she's pregnant with Naruto's baby." Iruka did a double take as Naruto growled and started forward as Kakashi waved to the blond and vanished with a puff. Leaving Naruto alone to deal with Iruka as he screeched.

"_Oh my god Naruto what the fuck did you do?_"

Naruto growled low in the back of his throat, the sound vibrating deep in his chest. Oh that sorry unbelievable _bastard_.

He was going to_ murder_ Kakashi for this shit.


	27. Chapter 27

"_Oh my god Naruto what the fuck did you do?_"

Naruto growled low in the back of his throat, the sound vibrating deep in his chest. Oh that sorry unbelievable _bastard_.

He was going to_ murder_ Kakashi for this shit.

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Everyone shinobi and civilian, in the vicinity were staring at them.

Naruto knew it because he could see a few people out of the corner of his eye, standing side by side among the people just coming out of their tents, to see what Iruka was howling about now. He made a funny sound as Iruka advanced on him and grabbed him by the front of his jacket and started shaking him while screaming.

"Is it true? Did you impregnate some poor girl-" Naruto was about to answer him and say no when he heard the low buzz of whispers from the people standing around watching the exchange between himself and Iruka. Goddammit! Now everyone in the village would be hounding him to know who Shay was and how far along she was and if he was_ really_ going to be a father.

"How could you do something so stupid Naruto!" Naruto just blinked. Wondering which part of this whole one sided conversation was dumber. The part where Iruka was screaming at him for supposedly knocking a girl up or the fact that Iruka thought he was so stupid that he would actually knock a girl up.

He was almost seventeen. He knew what a condom was for fuck sake.

He even knew how to use one. He had just never really been in a position to _use_ one.

"Did you think about the consequences at all?" Iruka's voice was a little softer now. A little more strained than it had been before. And the chunin had such a worried look on his face that Naruto almost couldn't resist the urge to punch him and snap,_ 'No child of mine will be influenced by Kyubbi.' _

_Almost_ being the operative word.

He let Iruka rant at him a little more then finally thought, _Maybe I should talk to Shay and see if the kid needs a dad._ God knew that he had always liked kids. Even little babies. Yet as soon as that thought crossed his mind he pushed it aside. He wasn't the type to cheat another man out of knowing his own child. Even if he wasn't somewhere close by.

Although, if Shay didn't want a dad for her kid then maybe he could simply be her henchmen and hench the ever loving hell out of people.

Yeah, that could be fun. And Shay gave him the oddest impression that she would make a great boss. So maybe that was the better way to go. He'd bet that she would have an awesome health coverage plan and would maybe throw in a free home cooked meal from time to time as long as he wasn't imposing.

Iruka shook him, jolting the blond out of his own thoughts as the chunin growled at him. "Now you march yourself right up to that poor girl and say, 'I'm sorry for being a flake. I will do the right thing.' Then ask her to marry you."

Naruto smiled at him. "Can't. I have to go see a woman about being a henchman." Iruka sputtered in disbelief as Naruto escaped his grasp and started walking again. Ignoring the plainly shocked stares of everyone that had been listening and watching for the past few minutes.

He didn't care what they thought.

Iruka snapped himself out of his funk as Naruto got a good twenty feet from him and then shouted as he turned and started to chase Naruto, "Damn it Naruto you do the right thing and _beg_ that girl to marry you!"

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Kakashi knew that what he had done to Naruto was wrong. And that he had been an unbelievable bastard for springing that crap on Iruka and leaving Naruto to deal with the fall out. But at this moment, as he studied the dark bruise on his shin, he couldn't really bring himself to care all that much.

Besides it wasn't like he had done it out of total meanness. There was a_ reason_ why he had done that to the boy other than being an asshole.

Kakashi still believed that Shay was possibly a spy. And while there were other more covert ways of finding out if someone was a spy, she seemed more like the type of person who would crack under pressure. Which was why he had dragged Naruto into his current mess.

With the boy now being the new Toad Sage and the replacement sanin for Jiriaya, then it only stood to reason that everyone in the village would be watching him. He was their hero after all. And by claiming that Naruto had sired Shay's child, Kakashi had ensured that every man, woman and child would be watching the girl just like they watched Naruto.

If there was even the slightest chance that Shay really was a spy or a threat, then _someone_ would notice.

All the copy nin had to do now was bide his time and watch the show.

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Naruto's eye was practically twitching by the time he reached Shay's tent. And it didn't help things much that Iruka had followed him all the way there while bitching at him to ask the girl to marry him. Which was why he had broken down and told Iruka that the baby wasn't his once they had reached the half way mark.

Iruka had shut up for all of two seconds before telling him that he should be ashamed of himself for talking about the mother of his child like that.

Plainly indicating to the now irate blond that he didn't believe him one little bit. Not that it mattered much to the blond, but Iruka was really getting on his nerves. So naturally he was a little bit surprised when the man shut up once they reached the front of Shay's tent and stopped just shy of the door and made a whistling sound before calling out softly. "Shay? Are you there?"

Naruto glanced at Iruka and snorted when he noted that the older man was messing with his hair and shuffling from foot to foot nervously. Naruto wanted to ask him what he was doing but stayed quiet when he found himself sub consciously straitening his jacket then checking it for stains while telling himself that a henchman should always look presentable for his boss.

Or people won't respect either of them very much.

He was so busy doing that that he nearly tripped over his own feet when Genma came out of the tent looking worried. "Naruto..."

"Genma, what are you-"

"I swear I don't know what happened Naruto. One minute she was out doing laundry and the next she collapsed-" Naruto's eyes widened a little bit and he thrust the bag of groceries he had been carrying into Genma's arms and slipped by him and into the tent and walked right over to the bed and looked down at Shay.

She looked so pale._ Could something be wrong with the baby?_ Naruto wondered with a pained/sad expression on his face as he reached out without thinking and laid his hand over her stomach and reached out with his senses and tried to see if the natural energy around her could tell him anything as Genma and Iruka walked in and froze just in the door way as Naruto's whole body seemed to start to glow a pale greenish blue as the natural energy in the air swirled around him.

He couldn't detect anything that could hurt the baby. In fact he could detect just how exhausted she was as well as one more little thing... Something that made him _very_ curious.

Naruto could detect something odd in Shay's natural energy. It didn't react to him like it should have. It was almost as if it had a mind of it's own. It wrapped itself tightly around Shay in a death grip that would be impossible for him to study more without doing actual _physical_ harm to her and the baby.

Almost like an protective armor.

Which was why he drew back and let the natural energy fade back to normal. "Naruto?" Iruka muttered his name, drawing his attention as he carefully tucked the blanket covering Shay, around her shoulders.

"She's fine. Just really, really exhausted." Speaking of exhausted, Naruto could feel her tiredness almost as if it were his own. The sensation beat at him with every breath, every heart beat, until he couldn't stand it anymore and sank down to his knees beside the bed and sighed as he fought the urge to go to sleep himself.


	28. Chapter 28

"So...this is Shay?" Iruka asked curiously as he studied the sleeping woman that his adoptive brother had taken up with. Kakashi was right, her hair was a freakishly odd color. But then again so was Sakura's. So who was he to judge?

She was a pretty little thing. Pale. And fragile looking.

But pretty never the less.

He stared at her for a second or so longer then shifted his gaze to his adoptive brother who was leaning his back against the girl's bed, his head resting on the edge of the mattress, his eyes closed, his breathing deep and shallow indicating that he was either meditating or almost asleep.

Using natural energy must really take a lot out of the blond for him to become so tired shortly after using his new ability to check on the girl and the baby. It made Iruka wonder how the teen had managed to stay awake long enough to fight Pein and win.

"Yeah. I guess so." Genma answered the chunin as he finished putting the groceries away. One of the Anbu had stopped by a short while ago to let them know that Gaara had been notified about Shay's collapse and that they should expect the young Kazekage to stop by once he could get away from Lady Tsunade.

So they expected that he would be along at any minute.

Iruka turned and looked at the jounin strangely. "You mean that you don't know?"

"Know what?" Genma asked curiously. Was Iruka referring to the fact that he didn't know if the woman was 'Shay'? Or if he was referring to something else entirely?

Naruto opened his eyes and said in a tone laced with amusement. "Iruka is talking about my baby momma."

Genma's senbon needle fell out of his mouth as he gaped at the blond in obvious wide eyed disbelief. Then started to stutter. In his mind he was unable to articulate his thoughts enough to demand answers. Somehow the image of Naruto holding a small cooing or crying bundle filled his mind.

He could almost literally see the look of pride on the kids face as he cradled his son or daughter in his arms while his woman leaned against his side and kissed him on the cheek. It was such a warm and fuzzy moment that Genma could sear that he was seeing a vision of the future.

Naruto's future.

Finally he was able to articulate his thoughts enough to gasp a rough and ragged sounding, "_What?_"

Naruto straitened his spine and looked at the jounin and grinned. Trying to look like an excited expectant father. Genma kept gaping at him while Iruka's eye twitched a little bit. "So you finally admit it? That this woman is carrying _your_ child."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders carelessly. He might as well admit to siring Shay's child...since Iruka would never believe him if he continued to deny everything anyways.

"Yup. The baby's mine. Shay's mine. They _both_ are mine." Naruto said, trying to sound possessive of the two. And surprised himself when he sounded very possessive of them.

Maybe a bit more than he should have._ It's the idea of having a woman and kid, both ideas are growing on you-_ His mind hissed warningly but Naruto merely ignored his own mental warning, knowing that it wasn't exactly the idea of a woman and child being_ his_ and his alone, that was growing on him.

It was the idea of finally having a _family_. The same sort of family that he had always been denied before.

The chance to settle in with a woman willing to put up with his emotional baggage and other things. His habits, his routines, his friends, his work.

Someone who didn't mind the fact that he would work himself to the bone to bring home to _provide_ for them. Or would willingly _die_ to protect them if the situation called for it.

Someone who wouldn't mind if he was a _hero_ or an epic _failure_ and would love him anyways. He wanted that so much. So _desperately_ that he could actually feel the very center of his being ache with longing.

He lifted one hand and rubbed the center of his chest through his clothes and smiled despite the pain in his chest as Iruka asked. "Well at least your finally being honest. Now are you going to ask her to marry you or not?"

"No-" Naruto said quietly as he looked up at Iruka who thinned his lips in displeasure. "I won't ask Shay to marry me until she's ready too." Naruto said calmly, meaning every word while trying to make Iruka understand that he needed to take this time to get to know her better.

He couldn't just claim she was his and then force her to marry him. He wasn't that cruel. And besides, that would just make her hate him. And it would make things more difficult for him to act as a father to her child. First he wanted to know a little more about her.

Where she came from. How she grew up. Her hopes and dreams. Her likes and dislikes.

Where the real father of her child was. Would he want to know about the child and be a part of it's life? Was she holding out for him? Was she still in love with him?

He found that question bothered him more than anything. But he knew that he had no right to ask her that just yet. Not until he got to know her better. And luckily for him he already had a damn good idea on how to go about that.

As he had thought before...Shay would make a great boss.

And he had years of experience as a henchman. Hell he had even developed a taste for henching. Having considered it to be a form of training for when he became Hokage; he had taken to it like a duck took to water.

And maybe she wouldn't mind him hanging around her a little more than necessary simply for the sake of appeasing his curiosity. She might even welcome the company and extra protection since he knew that she got irritated when she was left alone for too long, and she had a little one on the way.

And how many women in the village right now would give their right arm for the privilege of having the _new_ Toad Sage protect them personally?

Iruka was quiet for a second or so then sighed, he supposed that he could understand why Naruto didn't want to marry the girl right away despite the child that she was carrying. It hadn't occurred to him until just now that Naruto probably hadn't told her who he was or about the demon inside of him. And wanted some time to ease her into those things and see how she reacted to them.

After all she might not react well to the news that the father of her child was a demon container. So he supposed that he should back off and let Naruto go about things in his own way. "Alright Naruto. I get it. I'll stop riding you about this."

"Thanks Iruka." Naruto said quietly as Gaara appeared in the door way of the tent panting and looking like he had run the whole way across the village to get to Shay's tent.

"Gaara!" Naruto said cheerfully as the Kage stood in the door way doubled over for a second before asking in between pants.

"What... Happened?"

"I couldn't tell you since we weren't here. You should try asking Gen." Naruto said as he pointed to the still gaping man. It would seem as if Genma's mind was still trying to grasp the concept of Naruto being a father.

Gaara glanced at him and thinned his lips for a second. "I do not think he would be of much use as he is _now_." Gaara finally said as he stepped further into the tent and made his way over to the bed and leaned over Shay, studying her for any signs of distress.

"She looks like she's okay-" The Kage said after a second or so, his worried expression relaxing some. Though a faint trace of his concern still remained. "Should I have a medic look at her just in case?" Gaara asked as his eyes flickered to Naruto, finding it just a little bit curious that his adoptive brother seemed to have made himself so comfortable next to Shay's bed while she slept.

If he didn't know any better he would think that Naruto had placed himself where he was as a means to protect the woman while she slept. But from what Gaara saw so far, there was no one in the tent to protect her from.

Which begged the question. What was Naruto up too?

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Yes my kittens. What is our beloved hero up too?

Ah this was a fun chapter to write.

And can you believe that we're almost thirty chapters in?

I can't.

I'll have to write a little bit about Madara in the upcoming chapters and then write about Shay's meeting with the Kages to keep with the canon time line a little bit so look for that later on.

Bye.


	29. dedication to the lie

Shay stirred slightly drawing Gaara's attention back to her. His question about what Naruto was up too dying on his tongue as her eyes fluttered open and she looked at him as Naruto twisted his position around and got on his knees so that he could see her too. "Shay."

"What happened to you?" Naruto asked curiously, beating Gaara to the punch and earning a dirty look from the Kage as Iruka grabbed Genma's wrist and pulled him over to the bed and used his hand to force the man's jaw closed. Hissing something about him needing to shut his mouth before he drowned them all in his drool, as Shay looked around for a second then looked back at Gaara and Naruto and frowned, trying to recall what exactly had happened to her.

She remembered being outside, hanging up her laundry, singing her favorite childhood song and all of a sudden it had felt so hard for her to breathe-

She had started shaking, her legs buckled and then... She didn't recall anything after that.

Had she lost consciousness? Had she fallen and hit her head? Why the fuck couldn't she remember? And why did she feel as if her heart was breaking? She felt someone's hand brush her hair back and blinked up at Gaara and Naruto's faces as her vision blurred and a few tears slipped down her face and lifted her hands to cover her face for a second as she tried to calm herself down and stop crying.

Missing the alarmed looks on Gaara and Naruto's faces before Iruka pushed them back away from her and the bed and told them to sit down somewhere out of the way. Both teens bristled a little bit, their protective instincts kicking in and causing them to fuss with the chunin for a second before deciding to go outside after Iruka threatened to stab them both in the butt with a kunai.

But neither teen took offense, while the school teacher pushed Genma down in the corner out of the way then made his way back over to the bed dismissing them from his mind completely as they slipped out of the tent.

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The second that Gaara and Naruto were out of the tent, the Kage grabbed his friend and dragged him fifteen or twenty feet from the tent and asked, "What are you up too Naruto?"

Naruto blinked at the red head and fought the urge to should have known that of all the people to figure him out (outside of Shay that is) then Gaara would be the _one_ to figure out that he was up to something. "I'm not up to anything..._much_."

Gaara gave him a dirty look. "_Much?_ What exactly does your definition of 'much' entail, Naruto?"

The blond shrugged his shoulders. Not exactly sure about how to answer him. "Nothing really, Kakashi's the one who started this damn mess- I'm just taking responsibility for what he started." Gaara's left eye twitched a little bit.

"What mess?"

"_Control your temper red_, I'll tell you when I'm ready. All you need to know is that if things work out you'll be an uncle-" Naruto stopped talking and paled slightly as soon as the word 'uncle' seemed to sink into Gaara's mind. The Kage's reaction to the word was _damn_ freaky.

He got all sparkly.

And creepy.

Like _Gai_...

It should be against the law for people to look this creepy. Naruto thought warily as Gaara grabbed him by the front of his jacket and said in a rush, "_I'll be an uncle? Really? Really? Do you know how much I would love that? Will I have a niece? A nephew? How old will he/she be-" _Gaara shook Naruto a little bit and snarled._ "Why the hell aren't you telling me anything?" _

"O-Okay...F-Fine... I-I-I'll t-tell-" Naruto stuttered as his head snapped back and forth on his neck as he was shaken violently by his adoptive brother. He'd tell the red head anything he wanted to know as long as he stopped shaking him. Gaara stopped shaking him but didn't let him go.

Probably a good thing since Naruto doubted he would have been able to stand without help after being shaken like that. Naruto sighed and wondered if telling Gaara his plan for Kakashi's bad joke was the right thing to do.

"Well it's like this, Kakashi told Iruka that Shay's having_ my_ baby. Iruka didn't believe me when I said he was lying. Genma heard us talking and that's why hes currently _useless_ and Iruka was demanding for me to ask Shay to _marry_ me which got me to thinking- She's pretty soft on the eyes. And sharp for a civilian. And I haven't seen her with anyone that we might think is the father. And I'd_ like_ to settle down with a sensible girl and have a few kids... So maybe if Shay doesn't mind. I could be the baby's dad in _every_ sense of the word..."

Garra blinked and slowly let him go then got all _creepy sparkly_ again and Naruto shuddered and wished that he was blind as Gaara grasped his hands in his own and said. "I have the perfect cover story to support your claim-"

"Wha?"

"You and Shay met a bout a month ago- You liked each other then you both decided to do a little drinking to unwind one night. One thing led to another and you were both a bit embarrassed about falling into bed with each other. Yet now that you've met again and she is carrying _your_ child. You wish to start over from the beginning and take things slowly and truly get to know the mother of your child. But because of the Akutsuki threat and the secluded area in which she lived, you felt the need to move her to someplace safe which was how she came to be in Sauna."

Naruto's jaw dropped as Gaara turned around and looked at him while he rubbed his hands together like a mad man the expression on his face sending chills down Naruto's spine. Oh god he'd just stupidly unleashed a monster. Hadn't he?


	30. Chapter 30

Hello kittens-

_I'm back._

It's been a while. I was just sitting down to write and tell you that everyone is fine. My dad is taking the loss of his mother exceptionally well.

Everyone is alright.

I wanted to thank many of you for your kind words, but I'm a little bit at a loss with my words. Anyways, I wanted to do something so I thought that I'd try writing. I can't promise that the chapter will be long but it's something.

This chapter is for _all_ of you.

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Iruka handed the tea cup to the woman who had obviously stolen his adoptive brother's heart and noted the small grateful look that she gave him as she muttered a soft 'thanks' under her breath as she set the cup in between her legs for a second and lifted her hands to wipe away the tears that had started to slip down her face.

"Are you alright?" He asked in a very soft tone, using his teacher-comforting the-small-child voice as he dropped down to the floor of the tent and sat down. She gave him an awkward smile and sniffled a little bit.

"I'm fine. The water works are just part of the pregnancy." She said in a soft tone before she took a small sip of the tea that he had fixed for her.

"I've heard that said before, but I never really believed it until today." Iruka said in a half joking tone, hoping to coax a smile out of her. Her lips twitched a little bit and she looked at him.

"You're funny."

He grinned. "Thanks. I try. I'm Iruka Umino-" Iruka said as he offered his hand to her. She blinked at him then hesitantly took his hand in her own and shook it.

"Shay Sasha Circe, nice to meet you." Shay said politely.

"You too. So...how far along are you?" Iruka asked curiously.

"Four weeks."

Iruka made a humming sound as he thought for a second. Naruto _had_ been out of the village about four or five weeks ago. So maybe the baby really was his. Still... "So what do you think of our village?" He asked curiously.

"The people are very cautious due to what was done to them, but that's understandable. Other than that, it's very nice and quiet and cozy. The people care about each other. So I guess that you could say that I like it."

"That's good to know since you might be here for a good long while." Iruka said without thinking and stiffened slightly as soon as he realized what he had just blurted out as he glanced at the woman. She didn't seem the least bit disturbed by what he had said, so maybe she hadn't heard him.

"You make it sound as if I'll be here forever." Shay finally said after a second or so of silence, startling Iruka a little bit before he asked.

"Won't you be?"

"I'm not sure. No one is telling me anything-" And things would probably stay that way for a while since everyone was still trying to determine _who_ she was. _Where_ she came from. And _why_ she was there.

"Not that I would expect them too. After all they have a lot of unanswered questions about me, and asking someone to tell me something that could _endanger_ the village and it's people isn't any way to endear myself to anyone-" Iruka blinked and looked at her again. A shocked expression flitting across his face. "So I guess I'll just have to wait and let someone tell me stuff when they're ready."

He stared at her for a moment or so longer, unsure of what to think, then shook his head a little bit. She definitely wasn't an ordinary civilian, if the way she spoke was any indication. After all, there weren't any civilians that understood the shinobi's need for secrecy so well.

"Where did you come from?" He found himself asking after a moment or so. Shay looked at him as she took another sip of her tea then set the cup down and leaned in and said in a teasing tone.

"Nowhere near here."


	31. Chapter 31

Ah. It has been a while.

I've been working on so many things it's hard to keep them all straight. Earlier today i updated Beneath the Blue sky. and now I've updated Heirs.

I'm so happy.

Enjoy.

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Shay and Iruka talked for another ten minutes or so before Gaara and Naruto walked back into the tent.

Causing all conversation between the two to cease. Naruto looked at Iruka and noted the slightly guilty look on his face and fought down the urge to growl at the man then looked over at Shay to check and make sure that she wasn't upset with Iruka's efforts to pump her for information.

Shay smiled at Naruto and looked unaffected by Iruka's questions.

_Like that doesn't make me paranoid._ Naruto thought as he walked over to Shay's bed and dropped back down to the ground and leaned his back against the bed like he had before and tried to relax as Iruka said, "Naruto, Shay was just telling me that she's four weeks along with her pregnancy."

Naruto blinked and looked at the man oddly and slowly nodded his head. "Yeah. So?"

"So you must be so _proud_ of siring a child on this poor girl and then leaving her." Iruka said in a dark tone and Naruto started to sweat a little bit. Was that sarcasm? Or a really bad attempt at humor? No wait. Iruka didn't have a sense of humor, did he. Wait! Had Iruka just said what Naruto thought he had said out loud? In front of Shay?

Naruto started to turn around and look at Shay, his mind running rampant with images of the young woman turning into a demon and kicking his ass all over the village when he felt Shay put her hand on top of his head and went totally still, fearing the worst as Shay said gently.

"Iruka-san. You really shouldn't be so upset with Naruto. He's young and one night stands _do_ happen. Besides that he was needed here at the village and couldn't afford to stay with me. And I can't blame him for caring more about the village than he does me. This place is his home after all. But Naruto isn't the type of person to shirk his responsibilities, he has already promised to be a good _father_ and _provider_. And if he isn't..." Naruto stiffened as Shay's voice trailed off in warning as his jaw dropped in shock.

Gaara got all creepy sparkly again. Only this time it was much worse. It was like he was Gai times a zillion.

_Ew_.

Iruka stared at Shay with a peculiar expression on his face then smiled and scratched the bridge of his nose.

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Tsunade shook hands with the Mizukage in greeting. "Hello Mizukage-sama."

"Lady Tsunade." The young woman said politely as Tsunade let got of her hand and she took the chance to reach up and pull her hat off of her head so that she could see the room better. The damn traditional hat always got in the way when she was trying to look at something. It was why she hated wearing it so often.

"I trust that you had no trouble on your journey?" Tsunade asked, trying to make polite conversation. The Mizukage smiled at her.

"No. No trouble. Are the other Kage's here yet?"

"Raikage arrived earlier today. And Lord Gaara has been here for-"

"Kazakage-sama is here? Really? Does that mean that Shay is in the village as well?" Mizukage asked excitedly, startling Tsunade slightly. Tsunade stared at the young woman with an expression that was a bizarre mixture of curiosity and irritation.

What was it about that damn kid that had Gaara, and now the Mizukage, herself so interested in her? She'd have to ask Shikaku and Shikamaru to check the girl out if she wanted some answers.

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Iruka finished his visit and decided that it was time to leave and after promising to drop in and check up on shay in the next few days, he slipped from the tent to go about his daily business. Dragging Genma along with him.

Which left Naruto, Gaara, and Shay alone in the tent together.

"Soooo, Naruto...what was all that nonsense about you siring my child?" Shay asked curiously, a bemused expression on her face as she studied Naruto's shocked/terrified face.

"Uh...w-well...I- That is Kakashi-" Naruto said nervously as he subtly moved back _away_ from the bed. Shay narrowed her eyes at him a little bit and said cheerfully.

"It's true what they say about blonds isn't it? They're idiots-" Naruto gaped at her in wide eyed disbelief before his temper reared it's head. Oh hell no. She did not just call him an idiot. Especially without provocation. "You _do_ realize that moving away from the bed in no way assures that I won't get up and hurt you, right? So why don't you be a good boy and tell me what all that you siring my kid bullshit was about before I get up out of this bed and smack you until my pimp hand_ bleeds_."


	32. Chapter 32

Shay narrowed her eyes at him a little bit and said cheerfully.

"It's true what they say about blonds isn't it? They're idiots-" Naruto gaped at her in wide eyed disbelief before his temper reared it's head.

Oh hell no. She did not just call him an idiot. Especially without provocation.

"You _do_ realize that moving away from the bed in no way assures that I won't get up and hurt you, right? So why don't you be a good boy and tell me what all that you siring my kid bullshit was about before I get up out of this bed and smack you until my pimp hand_ bleeds_."

Naruto's azure eyes widened slightly in panic as Shay started to throw off the covers.

He backed away a little more and stuttered in fear. Naruto had _little_ to _no_ experience in dealing with pregnant women. She he wasn't exactly sure how angry or upset Shay could get.

And though he was backing away from her out of preservation instinct, he seemed to be upsetting her even more.

Which wasn't what he had been trying to do. He was just trying to avoid physical harm.

He looked over at Gaara who hadn't moved at all since Iruka had left, noted that he still had that creepy sparkly look on his face and growled in disgust.

God the men he made friends with were absolutely useless!

Shifting his attention back to Shay, he nearly screamed in terror when he noticed that she was right in front of him, well with in arms reach, her arms were crossed over her chest and she was staring at him expectantly.

"Well Naruto? Do you plan to stand there shaking in your shoes or will you answer me _before_ I have to resort to violence?"

"I-I-It's K-K-Kakashi's f-fault!" Naruto squeaked. Shay cocked her head and gave him a questioning look.

Kakashi's fault? What had the damned man done? And in what way was Naruto claiming that her baby was his-Kakashi's fault?

"_**Go on**._" Shay urged him in a calm tone tinged with murderous intent.

"K-Kakashi told Iruka that you were having my baby. And when I tried telling Iruka that it was a lie-"

"He didn't believe you-" Shay guessed and Naruto gave her an apologetic look and nodded his head as she got a thoughtful look on her face before asking, "So you went ahead and confessed to being my child's father..." Shay guessed again as Gaara finally snapped out of his 'Gai' funk and said.

"Shay, please do not be upset. Naruto put a lot of careful consideration into his confession of being your child's father." Shay looked at the red head and growled.

"Did he now? And what exactly did he think about? The fact that my child needs a father? The fact that I might need a champion? What exactly would he get out of claiming my child as his? Do you have any idea how suspicious your confession makes you look in my eyes?" Shay snapped as she reached out and put her hand on top of Naruto's head and dug her fingernails into his scalp.

Naruto squirmed and yelped under the half hearted attack and Gaara chuckled softly and got up and walked over to Shay and gently pried her hand from Naruto's head.

"It's true that Naruto's claim on your child is a mite suspicious. But you must understand Shay, that Naruto only wants to protect you and your child. And the best way to do that is to claim that your child is his. He's an important person here in the village. His name, his life, and his skill are _your_ shield." Gaara said softly as Shay turned her head to glare at him.

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself and my baby, Gaara. I don't need someone to swoop in and save me. It's _insulting_ that Naruto would think I'm so weak."

Naruto got a pissed off look on his face and growled, "Dammit Shay I never once thought you were weak-" Both Shay and Gaara looked at the blond in surprise. Any scathing comments or arguments they had been about to hurl at each other died on their tongues as Naruto practically yelled.

"You want to know what I was thinking when I told Iruka that your baby was mine. Fine I'll tell you! I was thinking that here you are in the middle of a stressful situation, _alone_, without your family or friends. Your facing an uncertain future, and carrying a new life inside of you. Madara will send an army after you and kill anyone who gets in his way."

"And instead of _begging_ the first able bodied shinobi to _help_ or_ save_ you- You-" Naruto jabbed Shay in the chest with his index finger then quickly jerked his hand back as she lifted her hand to grab him. No doubt intending to break his finger for touching her so close to her breasts.

"Damn woman that you are, you intend to face him alone despite the fact that he'll _kill_ you if he gets close enough. You haven't got the common sense to be afraid for your life do you? No, your not weak. If anything your far too strong. But I guess you haven't really got a choice at that. Someone has to be strong or you and your baby will die... And believe it or not, I don't want that to happen. Not to you or your kid." Naruto's voice softened a little bit as he finished speaking.

He'd said what he intended to say to get her thinking. Now all he could do is wait and hope that his words had the chance to sway her from whatever she had obviously (obvious to him anyways) been planning to do about Madara.

"You make it sound like I'm planning some sort of secret attack against that guy." Shay said softly after a second or so, and Naruto caught the faintest glimpse of fury in her eyes though her expression itself remained blank.

He snorted and crossed his arms over his chest and stared her down while thinking, _Aren't you? Aren't you planning to take on Madara for the sake of your child and it's future?_

He was blond. Not stupid.

Besides he knew enough about maternal instinct to know that one shouldn't fuck around with it unless they had a death wish. And in Shay's eyes that was exactly what Madara had. A death wish.

And she would be only too happy to oblige him if she had the chance.


	33. Chapter 33

They stared down each other for several seconds, both with dark looks on their faces. Gaara looked between the two and had to bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. Oh! So Naruto was aware of Shay's intention too. _How interesting._ The Kage thought in amusement.

He'd first realised Shay's intention to fight Madara a week or so after the attack on the Kage's, after Shay had been welcomed into his village and his home. He remembered how she had walked into his private chambers one night when he had been preparing for bed and had _demanded_ to know everything that he could tell her about Madara.

Gaara had sat down and told Shay everything that he could think of, understanding all too well that she wanted to know as much as she could about her enemy. And hoping that she might be able to think of a way to counter his next attack.

Gaara recalled every day after that night, all the way up until they had left the village; Shay had collected scrolls and history tomes that had information on madara and had set about studying the scrolls and tomes until she would fall into an exhousted sleep curled up on his couch. Or in the floor of her bedroom.

It was admirable of her. A little foolish. But admirable just the same.

Which was why he was planning to ask Tsunade to have Shay trained to defend herself before her pregnancy advanced too much for her to be able to move quickly. By having Shay trained to fight, they would be giving her a better chance at surviving. And while a mere self defense lesson or two wouldn't keep her completely safe from Madara, there were other ways that she could defend herself.

Gaara had noticed in rescent weeks since meeting her that her chakra was getting stronger. And from time to time she used it without even realising what she was doing. She had such potential. And with the right amount of training she would be very useful to them.

Which meant that they had to protect her at all costs.

Naruto was the first to look away from Shay and took a deep breath to calm his temper a little bit and said, "Look Shay, I've explained myself. It's up to you whether or not to believe me. But at least take the time to think about this... I'd make you a damn good _provider_ and an even better _father_ for your kid. But I understand that certain steps have to be taken before we can honestly give that sort of relationship a chance. So take a few days, or weeks, or hell even a few years to really think about things and then let me know if your willing to give me a chance."

Shay blinked at him and frowned a little bit then nodded her head and relaxed a little bit. "I'll do that Naruto." Naruto's facial features softened a bit before he turned and started to leave then stopped and said.

"Oh! I almost forgot-" He turned back around and looked at Shay who was giving him a curious look. "Before I leave I wanted to hand in an resume or something to be your henchman."

_"H-Henchman?"_ Both Shay and Gaara asked stupidly, unsure of whether or not they had just heard Naruto right or not.

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"Lady Tsunade, should we start this meeting without Lord Gaara and the others?" Raikage asked in a furious tone. Not understanding that Tsunade wasn't going to talk with him and the Mizukage about Madara and his war.

She had much more troubling things to disguss. One of which was the woman, Shay Circe.

Tsunade didn't have much information about the woman although she had met with team Kakashi and had had the book with Jiraiya's note to Naruto handed to her. But she hadn't had the time to read the letter just yet and didn't know what it was that was so special about the woman. As far as she was concerend, with a war looming on the horizen, she needed to maske sure that the woman that Gaara had befriended and placed so much hope in-

Wasn't going to_ betray_ them all.

"Calm down. This meeting isn't to disguss the war with Madara. I merely have some questions about the woman that Gaara has brought to the village with him-"

The Mizukage perked up in her seat. "You mean Shay?"

"Yes. That would be the one. What can you two tell me about her?"

"Not much aside from the fact that Madara is out to kill her."

Tsunade frowned. "Did Madara mention why he was out to kill her?"

"He did. But we are sure that he was lying. Which leaves us to assume that the girl has some very _rare_ and _valuable_ blood line limits." Mizukage said. Tsunade frowned again and mulled over what the other Kage said for a moment before getting a small inkling about why Madara was out to kill the girl.

_Dammit_. She needed to talk with team Kakashi and Gaara and get some damn answers before Madara sent an assassin to kill the girl.


	34. Chapter 34

_"Do you know where Shay's blood line limit may have originated from? What village she belongs too?" _

_Both the Raikage and the Mizukage shook their heads no. "We haven't a clue lady Tsunade. All we can really tell you for sure is that Madara seemed desperate to kill her. And I'm sure that you know what that means." _

_Tsunade fell silent as she laced her fingers together and rested her elbows on the table and took a moment or so to think. Oh she knew what it meant alright. If Madara was as desperate to kill the woman as both Mizukage and Raikage claimed, then Shay Circe contained a blood line limit so rare that the Uchiha felt threatened enough to want her dead. _

_Which meant that if they could discover the woman's abilities and maybe show her how to use them..._

_They would have a very effective weapon against Madara. _

_But before they could do that- they needed to find out where her ability originated and secure their right to use them any way that they could. "Anbu!" Tsunade called and waited three heart beats as four of her personal Anbu appeared before her and the other two Kages. _

_"What are your orders my lady?" The Anbu in the tiger mask asked as he and his companions all knelt in front of Tsunade to show their loyalty and respect for her. _

_"I need you to get Inoichi, Shikaku, Lord Gaara, Ibiki, and Sakura. Bring them to me so that I may explain their I will need some of you to escourt Shay Circe, Lord Gaara's friend, to a restricted area where she will be questioned about her blood line limit and where it originates from-" _

_Tiger tilted his head and gave her a curious look as Tsunade continued to speak. _

_"Listen to me carefully Tiger, I cannot stress this enough. The woman in question is marked for assassination by Madara. He see's her as a serious threat to his plans. Therefore the woman must remain in perfect health. There must not be so much as a scratch on her even if she resists being brought here-" _

_Mizukage's hands came down on the table as she jumped to her feet, drawing all eyes in the room to her. "Lady Tsunade, if your worried that she may resist then let me go and help escourt her here. If she sees someone familiar to her then she's less likely to feel frightened-" _

_"No. I need you here to help me come up with a way to examin her and bring out her ability without harming her." Tsunade said sternly. Mizukage blanched a little bit and looked like she was going to be sick._

_"B-But her condition. Tsunade you can't!" _

_"I'm well aware of her condition that is why we will have to have myself and my student standing by to treat her if she gets wounded."_

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"What the hell do you mean by you want to be my henchman?" Shay asked in an aghast tone. Her wide violet eyes narrowing at him a little bit. Naruto rubbed the back of his neck a little awkwardly and thought for a moment before answering.

"Well, you see...the thought occurred to me the other day when you gave me that advice about the war-"

"Advice?" Gaara cut in, his tone more than a little shocked as he asked. "What sort of advice did Shay give you Naruto?" The blond waved his hand and said to Gaara.

"I'll tell you everything _later_..." Gaara gave him a funny look then shrugged his shoulders and then indicated with his hand that Naruto should go ahead and explain himself before Shay lost her temper and beat him or something.

"Anyways... I uh, walked around the village for a while after leaving here- To sort of think over what you had said and you have more than one valid point. About difficult choices, second guessing yourself is useless and how I should spend as much time as I can with the ones who matter because I may never see them again..." Naruto paused and looked down and seemed to be studying his toes for a second before continuing.

"What you said made a lot of sense. It also makes me think that you know a thing or two about war that a normal civilian _wouldn't_ and _shouldn't_ know-" Naruto glanced at Shay and noted that her expression was now blank and inwardly smirked a little bit.

So he was right.

"Your advice was very _insightful_ on many levels. It gave me a better grasp of how you think. And I have to say, I admire such honesty in a woman. You'd be a good boss-" Naruto said in an cheerful tone as he reached out and grasped one of her hands and kissed the back of it.

Shay stared at him with an unreadable expression on her face. Gaara got all creepy for the third time in the past hour. And Naruto lifted his head a little bit and smirked at Shay before saying. "So if you ever find yourself in need of someone who can beat someone else up. Please keep me in mind."

Then before she could so much as react the blond grabbed the red head by the front of his shirt and disappeared in a puff fo smoke.

Shay coughed a few times and waved her hand at the smoke suddenly filling her tent as her eyes teared up. Irritation rose up with in her, mixing with her previous ire. Oh she was going to smack the ever loving hell out of that damned kid the next time she saw him!


	35. Chapter 35

The Mizukage wasn't a woman that could be ordered around or held back when there was something that she really wanted. And right now, she wanted to see Shay. Which was why she had created a shadow clone and left it with the other two Kage's-

Her lips curled back from her teeth in a silent snarl. How _dare_ those two call themselves Kage and be so ready to sacrifice the health and well being of a woman expecting a child. Such people were beyond forgiveness in her eyes.

She sliped out of the tent where they were holding their meeting and grabbed one of the Anbu and teleported herself a half mile or so away before he could so much as scream, stripped him of his clothes and mask and then ordered him to stay put until she returned or there would be hell to pay then hedged herself into him and dressed in his uniform then left him to go catch up to the others.

She knew what Tsunade was planning was dangerous to Shay and to the baby she carried. And even Tsunade had admitted just a short time ago that if things went wrong during the test and interrogation that was planned for Shay, that the woman would be sacrificed. The child however wouldn't be.

Mizu could understand ruthlessness when it came to protecting the village and it's people, but she felt that Tsunade was jumping the kunai in more than one way. She didn't know Shay. She hadn't spoken with her. Hadn't seen her fierceness in action. She hadn't seen the way Shay seemed to gather people to her like moths to a flame.

Mizu knew the girl was _special_. But she doubted that her specialness had anything to do with her blood line limit.

That was why Mizu had decided that if things went too far, she would recruit Gaara and the two of them would take the girl from Tsunade's nins by force if they must.

She refused to let another innocent person suffer because of Madara and the foolishness of others.

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Gaara stared at Naruto slack jawed for a moment, unable to really comprihend what Naruto had just told him about the lecture that Shay had given him the other day.

"That was-"

Naruto nodded his head. "Word for word. From beginning to end. That's what she told me." Naruto said in a bemused tone as he stuffed his hands in his pants pockets. Gaara snapped his mouth shut and stood there with an peculiar look on his face.

To say that he was _shocked_ to find out that Shay's lecture to Naruto made more sense than most lecture's he'd received in his life time would be an understatment. There was so much wisdom in the seemingly innocently spoken words that he was starting to think that Shay was no ordinary civilian.

"She's very perceptive. Isn't she?" Naruto asked, his expression never changing. Gaara made a humming sound and nodded his head.

"She's been able to read me like a book since we met. There's even been a time or two where I've had a bad day and she's walked right up to me and given me a hug to make me feel better."

"Such a perceptive person could have proven dangerous to you Gaara." Naruto pointed out in a slightly biting tone.

"I'm not such a fool Naruto that I trust people blindly-" Gaara snapped at his friend in an irritated tone before softening his voice a bit. "I kept her in a weakened condition through drugs, chakra restraints and such. Once I was sure that she meant no harm I stopped using those things. They might have become harmful to her and the child."

"I understand that. But what would you have done if she had tried to kill you? Hypothetically speaking of course. Would you have stayed your hand simply because she's a woman and expectant mother?"

"Hypothetically speaking. No. That wouldn't have stopped me. My duty is to my village. Therefore my personal feelings about certain people do not matter. If Shay had come at me with the intention to kill, I would have apprehended her. Locked her away. And then after the baby was born, I would have taken it and killed her. What would you have done? If you thought she was a threat?" Gaara asked Naruto.

The blond shrugged his shoulders. That was sort of the problem.

Though he was fairly certain that the woman posed no threat to him, his friends or to the village- He was starting to doubt himself. His instincts were fairly screaming at him '_not_ _a threat'_ one second then the next they were all but roaring _'threat! threat! threat!_'. He felt like he was being pulled in two different directions. He didn't know what to think.

It was true that Shay was a civilian. Anyone with eyes could tell by the way that she carried herself, by the feel of her hands, and how she conducted herself; that she was a civilian.

So then why was she giving advice on war? Why did she seem to understand shinobi and how they worked so easily? "I'm not sure." Naruto finally answered as he took one of his hands out of his pockets and rubbed the skin over his right eyebrow. Right where his head was starting to hurt.

"Killing a woman for any reason is _damning_. Or at least it is to me. So in truth if Shay was a threat to the village, I doubt that I'd have the heart to hurt her. Maybe I'd just erase her memories and set her loose in a different town far away or something."

"You would give her the chance to live her life peacefully." It wasn't a question. Gaara didn't ask stupid questions of him like others might. Gaara understood all too well what he was thinking.

"_Everyone deserves a chance, Gaara_." Naruto said in a hard tone that brooked no arguments.

"I know. That's why I'm happy that your using your head and trying to worm your way into her affections... Your marriage proposal was very well thought out."

Naruto flushed to the roots of his hair and looked away, an embarrassed look on his face. "You think? I would have liked time to practice it. Maybe come up with some counter arguments for her refusals."

Gaara snickered. "But you did come up with a counter argument or two. And they _all_ made such sense."

"Stop laughing you red headed lunitic! This isn't funny!"

Gaara laughed a little harder. "Y-Yes it is-" He gasped as he wrapped his arms around his middle. "You've propsed to a virtual stranger. One who is already in the family way-"

Naruto grinned and rubbed his hands together. "Yup. Half of my work is done already."

Gaara shook his head but couldn't stop from smiling. "And just to keep her on a tight leash and get to know said woman, you tell her that you want to be her henchman... Do you have any idea how brilliant that is?"

"It's not brilliant Gaara. I really do think that she'd make a great boss. And the fact that it would allow me to get closer to her and get to know her better is just an added bonus."

Gaara got quiet and asked, "Do you like her?"

"Of course I like her. She's...odd. And you know how much I like odd things. Look at Gai and Lee. If they weren't so odd, I wouldn't have been able to make friends with them so easily."

Gaara scoffed. "You would have killed them in their sleep, you mean."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "That too."

"That doesn't answer my question though Naruto. Do. You. _Like_. Her?"

Naruto stared at him for a second. "Define 'like'."

"Do you find her attractive?"

"No comment."

"Do you like how she thinks? Find her fascinating? Funny?"

"No comment." Naruto said with a cheery smile that made Gaara's hand itch to slap him.

"Does she make you want to curl up in her lap and purr?"

Naruto blinked at him. "What sort of bizarre question is that?"

"Just answer me."

Naruto got a thoughtful look on his face and blushed then growled at him. "No comment."

"Do you feel that she would be a good mate for you?" Gaara finally asked. Naruto got a funny look on his face and sort of kicked at an invisible rock on the ground at his feet.

"Well? Do you?" Gaara asked impatiently. Naruto looked up for a second then nodded his head and jumped when Gaara pointed at him and practically yelled, "You like like her!"

"Shut it red."

"You want to hug her- You want to kiss her-"

"I said shut it!" Naruto yelled as he tackled Gaara to the ground where the two started to roll around yelling and screaming and swearing.

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Shay was in the middle of cooking dinner when she sensed several people standing outside of her tent. One of which she knew was Mizu. She paused what she was doing and set aside the sharp knife that she had been using to cut up some vegetables to add to her dinner and wiped her hands on her skirt and walked over to the opening and peeked at out the small group of people in snarling animal masks.

"May I help you?" She asked curiously as she slipped outside. A man in a snarling tiger mask stepped forward.

"Shay Circe?"

"Yes."

"We have been ordered by Tsunade-sama to bring you before her to be examined and interrogated." Tiger said as he studied her. She was an odd one. He could tell already by the fact that she wasn't afraid of them or what their appearance before her meant for her.

She was nothing but calm.

She turned to his right where Panther was standing and smiled at the man then shocked them by saying, "Mizu, please remove the mask and change back. If I'm going to be interrogated it would be nice to be able to see my friend's face."

Panther reached up and removed his mask then suddenly changed into a woman with wheat golden blond hair with icy blue eyes. The woman stepped forward and grasped Shay's hands in hers and then hugged her for a moment before stepping back and then looking at him.

Tiger and the other Anbu could do nothing but gape at the woman in wide eyed shock from behind their masks. Holy shit they had the Mizukage pretending to be one of them!


	36. Chapter 36

Hello my kitties! It's been a while since I last updated this story so I thought I would give it a shot and see what happened.

Please bear with me cause I have a headache.

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Shay walked next to Mizu quietly, noting that Mizu had dropped back out of the formation to walk beside her. Their hands and shoulders occasionally brushing causing both women to flush a little bit and mutter soft apologies under their breath.

Shay understood that Mizu wanted to try and comfort her, and she appreciated the woman's efforts, but brushing up against her felt a little weird. Kind of like first date weird. Still she said nothing about it because she could see that Mizu was upset about the fact that she was going to be interrogated.

Shay leaned into the woman's personal space a little bit more and asked in a hushed tone. "Do you know what method they're planning to use?"

Mizu looked at her then quickly looked away and then grasped Shay's hand in hers and shook her head no. Shay got a slightly alarmed look on her face and put her free hand over her stomach.

Mizu squeezed her hand, trying to comfort her. Tsunade had said that she wanted Shay in one piece for interrogation. Which meant that she was probably going to use one of the Yamanakaa clan's jutsu to get her answers.

But it could be very stressful and even painful since the Yamanaka would be delving into Shay's mind. Weeding out secrets and lies. Analyzing her memories.

Tsunade wanted to know why Shay was a threat to Madara. She wanted to know what Shay's blood line limit was. But there was something that Tsunade might not have thought of. Something that _scared_ Mizu witless.

What if Shay didn't actually know about her abilities?

What if she didn't know why Madara was targeting her? What would happen to her then? Would Tsunade stop the interrogation due to Shay's innocence or would she order the Yamanaka forcing his way into her mind to dig deeper?

Would Tsunade risk having the jutsu drive Shay insane just so that she would have her answers?

They reached the designated area much faster than Mizu thought they would and found Tsunade and Sakura standing at the door to the tented area. Tsunade glared at Mizu. And Mizu glared back.

Both women silently conveying just what they thought of the other at that moment.

Tsunade thought Mizu was acting irresponsible. Like a child.

Mizu thought that Tsunade could have stood to sleep a little longer. She was acting like a total _bitch _towards the wrong person.

"Mizukage-" Tsunade growled at the younger woman warningly. Mizu ignored her as she let go of Shay's hand as Sakura bit upset and a little sad and worried all at once, and took hold of Shay's hand.

"Is there anyhting you need me to get for you Shay?"

Shay was silent for a moment and said in a hopeful voice. "Gaara." Mizu smiled at the scared young woman and then gave her a hug then when she stepped back she glanced at Sakura and said in a hushed tone.

"Take care of her until Gaara and I get back here."

Sakura nodded her head and tugged on Shay's arm to get her to follow her. Shay walked behind her wordlessly into the tent before she seemed to snap herself out of her funk enough to ask Sakura if the interrogation was going to hurt the baby.

Tsunade fell into step behind the two, silently observing them as Sakura answered the young woman's questions as best as she could without telling her what was going to be done. Sakura had agreed with Tsunade that keeping the girl in the dark as much as possible about the procedure that was going to be done.

Feeling that if she knrew everything ahead of time, she might panic and try to fight them. Causing more harm to herself than neccasary.

Yet at the same time Tsunade sensed that the girl was fishing for information about what was going to occur. And she found it strange that the girl did it without arousing Sakura's suspicion when she asked her something.


	37. Chapter 37

"So I'm going to be interrogated?" Shay asked curiously as she walked beside Sakura. The pinkette gave her a forced smile in response to her question and Shay sighed and asked. "Wouldn't it be easier to simply sit down and ask me what you want to know?"

"It would be. If we were trusting and gulible people, but with so many lives at stake we can't afford to have an enemy agent among us." Tsunade said after a moment or so fo silence. Shay turned her head and looked at the woman over one of her shoulders and then nodded her head to show that she understood.

"I understand that shinobi live their lives cloaked in shadow, blood and deceit...however the rest of the world isn't like that. Many of the people around you aren't like that. I myself hate lying." Shay said solemly as she stopped in her tracks and turned to face Tsunade.

The Sanin didn't even blink. To be honest she was still having trouble hiding her shock. It wasn't _normal_ for a civilian to have such a grasp of how shinobi or military powers worked. Which only served to make Tsunade even more suspicious of the girl.

"Even if it could save your life?" Tsunade asked curiously as she studied the girl. She had heard Mizu, Gaara and Sakura speak of the girl almost non stop for the past few days and could honestly say at this moment that she wasn't terribly impressed with the girl.

Which begged the question, how had this girl won over two of the Kages and her own apprentice in such a short amount of time? Did she possess some strange power that was like Naruto's?

Or was it something else? Something more sinister maybe?

Shay crossed her arms over her chest and stared at her with a stubborn look on her pretty face. "Let me repeat myself just one more time for your benefit, my lady. I. _Hate_. Lying. For any reason. If you want to know something, then all you have to do is ask."

"You have a great deal of knowledge about how shinobi and military functions work. Why is that?" Tsunade asked, seeking to discover if Shay was really as honest as she said she was.

Shay gave her a calculating look then shrugged her shoulders and said. "My dad and older brothers were all military trained. They taught me some basic combat moves for self defense. They taught me stratagies, survival training. Battle plans. You name it, I know it."

Tsunade blinked and sucked in a breath as her mind reeled with the information that she had just been given. Good god if Circe was telling the truth about what she knew and how she knew it then it was no wonder she was so understanding about their safety protocols and such.

Living with people who fought in wars and killed, tended to open up even the most innocent of eyes and show them the horrors, pain and sorrows that came with being a soldier.

No wonder Shay seemed so patient with them. She probably understood them in ways that even they, as shinobi, weren't aware of.

"What happened to your father and brothers?" Sakura asked curiously.

"They died-" Tsunade opened her mouth to ask how, feeling that the information was valuble some how but Shay it seemed was one step ahead of her and continued with her explanation. "My dad suffered a phychotic break after a particularly bad mission and killed my entire family before killing himself. I was the only person that he spared, though I'm not sure why."

Tsunade didn't say anything for the longest time before sighing and asking, "How old were you when it happened?" It was stupid to ask the girl such a painful thing since it was dredging up old wounds, but Tsunade needed to know.

Because if Shay had been too young to be on her own then knowing would help her determine whether the girl was truely an enemy or simply another person just trying to survive.

"I was nine."

"Who took care of you? Did you have any relatives left?"

"I had relatives, but they didn't want anything to do with me. So I was placed in several foster homes, but ran away from several of the families because they were abusive. I got several jobs. Worked my way through school, bought myself a nice apartment-"

"So no one helped you?"

"No. My relatives more or less cut all ties with me after what my dad did. They were afraid that I'd go crazy and kill them in their sleep like my dad had."

Tsunade sighed and curled her hands into fists and bit back the urge to snarl. _Dammit._ If Shay had really grown up as she said she had then her pattern of behavior was understandable. Knowing what the girl did, she must have grown up pretty damn fast while trying to find a safe place for herself in the world.

Tsunade had seen what living on the streets did to kids.

It turned them mercenary. They did whatever they felt they had too in order to survive. They stole, lied, cheated, and even _killed_. Because food was scarce. And the winters in different regions of the world were so very harsh.

Tsunade had even seen children as young as six or seven turn themselves into prostitutes just to get money for a decent meal or a nice soft bed for the night. Tsunade got quiet after that and started walking again, figuring that it would be easy to know if Shay was telling the truth once she put the girl in Inoichi's hands.

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Naruto and Gaara were sitting down side by side, their shoulders just barely touching, nursing bruised knuckles and talking in low tones when they felt the chakra signiture of a Kage level nin approaching them. The two went eerily still and silent as they both got to their feet. "Who is it?" Naruto asked curiously, his azure eyes darkening to a deep vivid sapphire to show his displeasure.

Gaara tilted his head one way then another as the chakra signiture got closer. "Mizu? I think."

"Mizu? Who the hell is Mizu?"

Gaara gave Naruto a funny look then shook his head and said. "Mizu is short for the Mizukage's name."

"The Mizukage. Hn, well what would he-"

"She. Naruto. Mizu is a woman."

"Oh alright then. What would she be doing out here?"

"Well either she is out for a stroll-"

Naruto snorted. He doubted that the Mizukage was out in the woods just walking around. She didn't have her personal Anbu with her.

"_Or_ something has happened and she's coming to inform me of something." Gaara said as a woman dressed in the Leaf village's Anbu uniform dropped out of the trees and landed in front of them with a panicked look on her pretty face.


	38. Chapter 38

Mizu didn't have time to beat around the bush now that she had found the Kazekage. Nor did she have the time to speak in code around the blond interloper that the Kazekage had apprently been talking with. She told Gaara what Tsunade was planning and was more than a little surprised when the red head looked at the blond and asked, "Well? What do you suggest we do Naruto?"

Mizu looked at the younger Kage in confusion wondering what the blond had to do with anything when the one called Naruto bared his teeth and growled. "Oh hell no. Tsunade is out of her ever loving mind if she thinks she can interrogate Shay. Lets go." The blond said as he reached out and grabbed Mizu's wrist in a steely grip then put his other hand on Gaara's shoulder and before Mizu could even demand to know what he was doing they vanished from the woods.

Mizu couldn't believe what she was seeing. The world around her was blurred to the point where it was nothing but a swirling mass of color and sound. Was this what the Leaf nins considered a telepotation jutsu? Because it was damn close.

Although there was no passing from one place to another consciously. It was more like they were being _pulled_ at a fast pace that had never been achieved by humans before. It was dizzying to say the least.

Mizu's stomach lurched and she lifted her arm on reflex to cover her mouth, but couldn't get it up completely. The blond's grip on her wrist was weighing it down like lead weights.

Then just as abruptly as the sensation started, it ended and the blond let go of her. Mizu doubled over in an effort to keep from being sick as Gaara looked around and sighed. "Damn. They're already inside."

"I'll go stop them." Naruto said before disappearing in a blur of navy blue and orange. Mizu blinked as she caught sight of the slight movement from under her bangs and thought, _What the hell? _

Gaara shook his head and inwardly chuckled at Naruto's haste. No one in the world would be able to accuse the teen of being as slow as he acted if they saw him now.

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Shay looked around the tent with a frown.

It felt like they had been walking forever, yet they hadn't reached their destination yet. How odd.

She glanced at Sakura, noting that the pinkette was totally calm and relaxed and felt herself get more than a little bit irritated at the girl's calmness before asking. "So just how big is this tent? It looked about normal size when we were outside but it fells like we've been walking forever."

"The tent has a time and space distortion jutsu placed on it to make it bigger inside than it appears outside." Tsunade explained. Shay gave her an _Oh_ look over her shoulder then said out of the blue.

"You know I used to have a closet in my old apartment that I would swear up and down had one of those time and space distortions in it. Every time I stepped inside of it, I would get lost for hours." Tsunade cocked her head a little bit to the left and studied Shay's back. Ah so she was that type of person. The type of person who told jokes and laughed no matter how bad the situation was.

Now she was beginning to understand why Gaara, Mizu, and Sakura liked the girl so much. It was because she was eerily similar to Naruto personality wise.

Sakura looked at Shay funny, her green eyes sparkling in amusement. "You're joking right? It's not possible to get that lost in a closet."

"Maybe not for you but I remember getting stuck in there one time and not being able to get the door open... It took one of my neighbors three days to find me." Sakura looked at Tsunade and bit her lower lip, her slender shoulders shaking.

Tsunade rolled her eyes at the girl and gave a subtle nod to let her know that it was okay to go ahead and laugh. Sakura took the hint and started giggling uncontrolably as they continued walking.

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Naruto stopped moving when he heard the laughter and scowled at the fabric walls as he mentally swore.

He hadn't realised that Tsunade had placed a time and space distortion jutsu on the tent before he had rushed in. But now that he did know about the jutsu he needed to be very careful when navigating inside of it.

He didn't want to take a wrong turn and end up in some far off universe or anything weird like that. God knew that they had lost more than their fair share of nins for being so wreckless.

He listened for the sound of laughter again and when it didn't come, he focused instead on the low hum of voices speaking. Once he was able to pin point the sound he started moving again, this time starting off at a brisk jog.

He could sense Tsunade and Sakura and Shay were somewhere just ahead of him. Which was good since he was going to give the girls a piece of his mind once he caught up to them.


	39. Chapter 39

Shay stopped walking, causing Tsunade to almost run into her as she turned her head and looked behind them. Her violet eyes narrowing some as she stared at the empty space behind them. "Shay? What's wrong?" Sakura asked curiously as the girl turned around completely and took a step around Tsunade, causing the blond woman to tense and ready herself to grab her if she tried to run when Shay said.

"Naruto is coming."

Sakura and Tsunade both looked behind them and frowned. They couldn't feel Naruto's chakra approaching them, so how could Shay know that he was on his way there or not? "What do you mean Naruto is on his way?" Tsunade demanded, wondering if maybe Shay had some sort of ability to track people that they didn't know about. Maybe she could sense hidden chakra's.

It wasn't a very common ability but there were some who had it. And since they still didn't know much about Shay's ability's then this was a perfect oppertunity to see what the girl could do and discredit her.

Shay looked back at them for a moment and they noticed that her violet eyes were strange looking. They were still a deep vivid violet, but had several red rims making them look eerily similar to Pein's eyes as Shay said. "I can see Naruto coming this way."

Again the two women looked at Shay strangely for a moment and sunade started to open her mouth to say something when sure enough, Naruto came barreling around some invisible corner and ran at a break neck pace right for them.

_Crap_. Tsunade thought darkly as she grabbed Shay by the back of her shirt as Naruto reached them. She was about to pull the girl back when Naruto wrapped his arms around the girl and all but tossed her over his shoulder while simotaniously smacking her hand to get her to let go of Shay and growled at the two irritated women. _"What the hell do you think you're doing?" _

Tsunade sighed. "We are going to-" Sakura started to say when Naruto bared his teeth at her and snarled.

"No. You aren't."

"Naruto this is for the good of the village-"

"The village be damned, you witch. Your feeling pressure from everyone about catching Madara and are looking to take out your frustrations and even condemn an innocent woman for _your_ failings, Tsunade._ Not happening_."

Tsunade blinked at her ganki in shock before her temper reared it's ugly head. Who the fuck did Naruto think he was talking to her like that! She was the damned Hokage. Her village had nearly been wiped out and her people were facing another war. Of course she was under pressure, but she wasn't so cruel as to condemn someone else for her failings as a leader.

She was just trying to figure out what was so _special_ about Shay that Madara was willing to go to war with them over her. "Watch your tone with me boy. I am your Hokage. Your leader-"

"Leaders are people worthy of admiration and respect. And you, right now... aren't one of those people."

"I beg you're-" Tsunade hissed in an offended tone as Naruto took a step closer to her and growled at her.

"I want you to listen to me and listen well. Shay isn't going to be interrogated unless you can promise us both that she and the baby will not be harmed. If you refuse, and still try to interrogate her- I will not only defect from the village, but I'll be taking Shay, Sakura, Kakashi and many others with me. And don't think that I won't do it, blondy. I have the right to protect my woman and our offspring in any way, shape or form that I deem fit."

Sakura's jaw dropped as she gave Naruto a wide eyed, shocked look as Tsunade started to open her mouth to say something to her ganki about his attitude when his words finally registered in her outraged mind. "W-what did you just say?" She asked in a squeaky tone. Wondering if Naruto had just said what she thought that he had said or if she was finally losing her mind.

Naruto gave her a nasty feral looking smile and set Shay down and turned her so that he could place one of his hands over her stomach, right over where the baby was and said in a calmer tone. "This is _my_ baby. Shay is _my_ woman. You will not hurt her or the child for any reason unless you want me to ruin you. Do I make myself clear?"


	40. Chapter 40

Tsunade stared in shock at the blond, her jaw hanging open as Sakura pulled herself together a little bit and managed to stammer out.

"B-B-But t-that's i-impossible- T-T-There's n-n-no way!" Tsunade nodded her head mutely. Agreeing with Sakura. There was no way on earth that Naruto had known Shay before and gotten her pregnant and then just left her. Especially with someone like Madara running amok trying to kill him.

Honestly where would Naruto find the-

"I trained with Jiraiya remember. Of course it's possible. It's even _plausable_ once you think about it. I was with the old man for several years and he was always taking me to such new and interesting places. And I met _soooo_ many people." Naruto said, hoping to clue them in on some of the aspects of his education while he'd been out of the village with Jiraiya without coming right out and saying that he'd been trained to seduce people.

Especially since the village had been dead set against training him in such things because they had feared that if they did when he was younger, that they would be over run by mini demons.

**_And the darkness shall have dominion over man... _**Kyubbi's voice whispered cryptically in the back of his mind before falling silent again.

"B-But-" Sakura stammered as Naruto slashed at the air in front of her face with one hand and growled.

"_Shut it_-" He'd explain more in a moment or so since his attention was elsewhere. Shay was being strangely quiet through their talk and it was starting to worry him since he had expected her to at the very least say something to refute his claims. He walked around her and put his hands on her shoulders and asked, "Shay, are you okay?"

Shay wanted to say something about Naruto's lies to the Hokage and Sakura but had been unable to get her mind to function enough to articulate what she wanted to say. Yet when Naruto stepped around her and put his hands on her shoulders and for a moment, a brief passing of time, she _saw_ something that was both amazing and terrifying to her.

An image of Naruto flashed in her mind in great detail.

She saw the two of them in bed together. Could almost feel him thrusting into her body as he skimmed his lips along her collar bone as he laced their fingers together before lifting his head enough to touch his forehead to hers and smile such a happy and achingly tender smile that she nearly started crying right then and there.

But like mentioned before the moment was brief and ended the second Naruto put his hands on her shoulders and asked her if she was alright. She looked at him through wide eyes and struggled for a second to even say, "I'm staying out of this."

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Sauske woke up laying on the make shift cot on the floor of the cave that he and the others had been using as a hideout and blinked his dark eyes tiredly and was only a little bit alarmed when all he could see was the vague outline of the furniture in the room as everything blurred together. Fuck. His eyes- There was something horribly wrong with his eyes.

He tamped down on the intense feeling of dread and panic threatening to overwhelm him and put a hand out in front of his face and slowly moved it back and forth trying to see it's movements all the while his mind screamed. _**My eyes! My eyes! What the fuck is wrong with my eyes! **_Without the ability to see, he was unable to sue his ocular jutsu on his enemies.

God in heaven, he'd be next to helpless! He heard the faint sound of footsteps and looked in the direction the sound was coming from as he heard the devil's voice say almost cheerfully. "Ah, Sauske-kun. You're finally awake. How are you feeling?"

"I'm blind." Sauske said suddenly, his voice tinged with hysteria as the person got quiet before saying.

"Not to worry dear boy, we can fix your eyes easily enough-"

(******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

"Are you sure that your okay?" Naruto asked for what must have been the hundredth time in so many minutes as they followed Tsunade and Sakura whom had both finally pulled themselves together enough to continue their trek to where Inoichi was waiting.

"I'm fine." Shay lied as she avoided the blond's eyes. She hadn't been able to look at him ever since she'd had her vision of them in bed together. Everytime she tried to look at him, she blushed and started stammering like an idiot. Which wasn't good since it seemed to worry him even more if the look he was giving her at the moment was any indication at all.

She felt his hand brush hers and jumped a little bit and looked at him. He blinked at her, his expression startled before he blanked his face and stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets and said in a rough tone. "Everything will be alright Shay. I won't let anyone hurt you."


	41. Chapter 41

Naruto watched Shay with a detached sense of curiosity as she flushed again and looked away from him. He was trying to figure out why she was acting so jumpy and skittish with him. He hadn't seen her act in such a nervous manner before.

Had something happened that she didn't want him to know about? Had she _seen_ something with that peculiar ability of hers? The one that his master's letter used as a reference to call her a decendant of Cassandra? He decided to try a little experiment and subtly reached out and settled one hand on the nape of her neck and leaned in and made like he was going to kiss her on the cheek when she turned her head a little bit and looked at him, causing their lips to brush before he could pull back.

And for a second, just a brief split second he saw her eyes change and blinked as a strange buzzing filled his head as an image of himself appeared in his mind.

_He had her right where he wanted her. Right where she was supposed to be. He slanted his mouth over Shay's and deepened the kiss as he slowly moved inside of her. She made a strained whimpering sound and shuttered under him. _

_He could feel her juices coating the inside of his thighs and purred- _

Naruto flushed and blinked. _What the-_ He caught Shay looking at him wide eyed, her expression one of a person who had just seen a ghost as realization hit him. _Holy_ _shit!_ Had that been a vision? Of him and Shay? Together? As in _together_, together? Shay stopped walking and reached up and framed his face in her hands and leaned in, startling him a little bit as his eyes widened a little bit and she growled at him in a hushed yet strangely ominous tone.

_"Tell. Noone." _Naruto blinked at her with a somewhat dazed expression on his face and slowly nodded his head and muttered.

"Yeah. Okay." Who the hell was he going to tell anyways? He didn't even really know what he'd just seen.

Shay dropped her hands away from his face and then started walking again, catching up to Tsunade and Sakura before either one could turn around and see what was taking her so long. Naruto stood very still for a second or so, trying to gather his scattered thoughts and sighed as he stuffed his hands back into his pockets and started walking again.

Ino and Inoichi's first real meeting with Shay went...unexpectantly in Tsunade's opinion. The two weren't exactly friendly, not in the conventional sense, though they conducted themselves in a professional manner and greeted Shay politely enough.

Inoichi asked a few easy questions in an effort to get Shay to relax while he subtly probed her mind for any traces of lies. Upon finding none he turned his attention to Ino who like him, had been informed that the person they would be questioning was in a delicate condition and listened to Ino fire questions at the young woman.

"I heard that you were preganant. How far along are you?" Ino asked curiously.

"A few months. Two... I think." _Give or take_. Shay thought as the blond girl squealed and put a hand on Shay's small still almost flat stomach and frowned after a second or so.

"You're still very small to be two months along. Have you been eating well? Resting enough? You haven't been sick much have you? Where's the father?" Ino blurted out as Naruto walked into the room and gave both Ino and her father a dark brooding look. Earning a funny look from the two before they glanced at Tsunade and Sakura who both gave them slightly strained smiles and signed, _You don't want to know_.

The two nins exchanged a look then turned their attention back to Shay. "Okay...before we start Ino here is going to examin you to make sure that your in good health. The reason for this is so that we can learn about any pre existing medical conditions and also so that we have something to compair your heath to once we're done. The last thing we mean to do is cause you so much stress that you miscarry-" Across the room Naruto gave a low furious sounding growl that quickly turned into a yelp when both Tsunade and Sakura grabbed him-

One by the hair and the other had his arm and was twisting it.

Ino and Inoichi gave them another funny look before ushering Shay across the room where a wooden table and a few chairs sat and had her sit down.

(********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Sauske was finally resting peacefully thanks to Madara draining his chakra to the point where he could neither feel pain nor react to it. Or at least that was what the Uchiha theorized. The operation to implant Itachi's eyes into Sauske's body had been successful so far.

Now all he had to do was wait for the organs to take while Sauske replenished his chakra then they could head to the Leaf village. Until then, he would have to deal with the decendant of Cassandra himself.


	42. Chapter 42

He appeared in the distorted space of the tent and looked around as he tried to get his bearings. He could feel a substantial amount of chakra around the middle of the distrorted space along with the chakra's of Naruto, Tsunade, Sakura Haruno and several others.

He could get past the source of the chakra he felt easily enough. And might be able to slip past Tsunade and Sakura, but Naruto would be a problem. The demon container had gotten much stronger than Madara had anticipated in recent years and due to the increase in his strength he had become more confident in himself and his abilities.

Causing him to shed the mask he'd worn as a youth.

He was less likely to fail in a fight with Madara as he was now. He was also more likely to fight dirty which meant that he'd rip Madara a new one before he even realized what the blond was doing. And if he was already away of Shay's pregnancy as well as her abilities, that would make the young leaf nin all that much more dangerous.

He fisted his hands at his side as he felt a wave of frustration wash over him. God but he needed to _kill_ that woman before she laid all his years of hard work to waste. But he needed to be smart about it. Grabbing Shay now would only be trouble, it would be far easier to set a trap for her in her living quarters where no one would think he'd strike since it was carefully guarded.

(******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

After determining Shay's health as well as the health of her baby, Inoichi and Ino walked her though the process of how they would peek into her head and project what they saw using some of their chakra as a screen so that Tsunade could see whatever was in her mind.

Shay got a bit fidgety and uncomfortable at first, her body language all but screaming that she didn't want anyone looking into her mind. Making everyone in the room curious about what exactly she didn't want them seeing.

Then Inoichi placed his jutsu on her and the room was suddenly full of different sights and sounds the likes of which none of the nins had ever seen before. They could see people walking on stone streets alined with huge glass and stone buildings and stores.

They saw hundreds of metal machines on wheels zipping along the street in every direction.

Then everything shifted and they saw a man with short reddish fuschia colored hair. He was dressed in dark clothes and was walking down a darkened hallway with a bloody knife in one hand, his expression was blank as he slipped into a room where a little boy was sleeping curled up on his side with a teddy bear.

They watched as the man walked over to the child and carefully slipped the bloody kinife under his chin and slit his throat then stood there as the childs eyes suddenly opened wide and he opened his mouth and tried to scream though no sound excpt a choked gurgle escaped him, his little face scared and hurt. They saw the man bend down then heard the man whisper, "Shh. Quiet baby. I know it hurts now just don't fight it. Let yourself go and mommy will meet you on the other side."

The boy slumped over as the last of his life drained away and the man straightened his spine and turned and started walking again. This time he slipped into a room with lavender butterflies and stuffed bunnies and bears. There was a little sparkling crown sitting on the small table beside the bed of a little girl.

Tsunade muttered something and then put a hand over her mouth as the man put the knife aside and tugged at the comforter on the bed, up around the sleeping child's shoulders and started talking in a low almost whispered tone.

"I'm so sorry to leave you like this Shay. But it had to be done. I just wanted you to know that no matter what anyone says- I did love you and your mom, and your brothers. But your meant for greater things and we would only be a hinderance to you- And I couldn't _allow_ you to die trying to save us when the time came. You've got a lot of trouble ahead of you, sweety. But you aren't the type of person to shy away from trouble. So do your mom and I a favor... grow up well, live your life, seize what happiness you can, and never forget that we love you. Never forget that I loved you and I'll be watching over you."

The man kissed the sleeping girl on the cheek then stood up and pulled a silvery weapon from the back, waist of his pants and a few seconds later there was a loud bang and the girl was spattered with deep scarlet.

The images shifted again and the girl from the former image was sitting on a bench wearing black. Her head was bowed and she looked like she'd been crying as a couple of older kids walked by talking. "Can you believe this crap? My uncle went crazy and murdered his entire family except for her-" One of the older kids spat as she turned her head to glare at the back of Shay's head. "And now some dumbass lawyer is trying to get my parents to take her in. I swear that good for nothing daddy of hers should have killed her too because there is no way that I'm sharing my home and parents with her. Not when she may be crazy too."

The kids talked a little more, making fun of Shay mostly. Many of the things said were unusually cruel even for kids, then once Shay had started crying again they walked away laughing.

They saw various other memories of Shay and how she grew up. Saw her meet and fall in love with a dark haired young man that beat the hell out of her.

Naruto _hated_ that man's very existance. The fact that he had touched Shay in such a violent manner for any reason. But he'd been happy to see her finally kick his ass and toss him out on his ear.

Everything shifted again and suddenly everything went white, and blank. There was the sound of dripping water and after several moments an image of a man wearing shinobi clothes appeared. He was sitting on the floor with Shay carefully cradled in his arms, sleeping.

He lifted his head a little bit and looked at Naruto and the others and smiled.

His eerie blue ringed eyes seemed to stare right into their souls before he said, "I think you've seen enough." The next thing Tsunade and the others knew, Inoichi was thrown across the room and Shay slumped forward and to the side, dangerously close to falling out of her seat. Naruto shook oof Tsunade and Sakura and ran forward and grabbed her while Sakura and Ino helped Inoichi up and made sure that he was okay.

Which left Tsunade standing there shaking, in fear and shock. Those eyes...

They'd belonged to the sage of the six paths. Hadn't they?


	43. Chapter 43

You all wondered what our favorite copy nin was up too. Here he is.

Enjoy.

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Kakashi sat in the tree above Shay's tent still scratching his head in confusion and disbelief over the course of events that had happened so far. 1) He'd lied and told Iruka that Shay was pregnant with Naruto's baby.

2) And due to the fact that Naruto couldn't _deny_ anything because Iruka would seriously nail his ass, he now found his former student not only actually claiming Shay and her unborn child as his own, but _Gaara_- the fucking Kazekage was now in on the plot so he could be an uncle!

All Kakashi could keep thinking was, _What the fuck?_ And to make matters even more troubling, Iruka had accepted the girl more or less and the rest of the village had heard that ridiculous rumor that he'd started and now everyone was buzzing with excitment, also ready to welcome Shay into the village.

After all she was their hero's woman and she was in a delicate condition.

So his plan to alienate her, and find out if she was a spy had backfired _horribly_. He supposed that he should just let it go... He peeled his lips back from his teeth in a silent snarl and glared at the tent.

Like hell he'd let it go. He wasn't the type.

His village was still in danger and he had no real idea _why _aside from the fact that she had Madara nipping at her heels, wanting her dead.

He sat there for a moment or so longer and then sighed and dropped down out of the tree and landed quietly on the balls od his feet and then stood up straight and quietly made his way into the tent intending to see if she had any hidden scrolls and what not lying about.

He was just a little bit stunned by the lay out of her temporary home. The place was neat, tidy, with only the minimum amount of furniture. A bed, a table some lights a dresser to put her clothes in, a place to cook, a place to wash dishes, a shower.

_Someone used the distorted space jutsu on this place and tweaked it to make it smaller than normal._ He thought as he quickly went through the dresser and checked the bed then put everything back the way it was and stood in the middle of the room scratching his head again.

Now if he were a spy from another village with a mission to destroy something where would he hide the mission scroll when there were so many enemy nins skulking about? One idea would be the living quarters. But since he'd already checked Shay's then that left only a few more. Another place to hide a mission scroll would be on her person, perhaps somewhere with a bit more flesh to keep it from being discovered.

Her chest? Or her butt? He wondered before hearing a noise outside.

He turned his head and was about to greet Shay in his usual mocking manner when Madara stepped through the opening and froze.

The two nins stared at each other for a second or so before Madara swore and started to turn to run away when Kakashi tackled him from behind and bellowed as loud as he could. _**"Madara's here!"**_ Hoping that someone would hear him and raise the alarm. A second later Madara's elbow connected with the under side of his chin knocking Kakashi's head back as he tasted the matalic twang of blood in his mouth as Kakashi pulled kunai and stabbed Madara with it in the shoulder.

Madara screamed with rage and punched the copy nin at the same time Kakashi nailed him in the face with his fist. There was a sicking crack from both men as they both shifted and struck again, ignoring the pain they were being dealt from the blows.

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"Naruto, is Shay alright?"

Naruto slipped one of his hands into Shay's hair and sighed. He couldn't detect any distress from her or the baby with his chakra so it was safe to assume that she was fine. "Yeah. She's just unconscious." But what was that anomaly he'd felt a moment ago? It wasn't something familiar. In fact it had felt icy and cold compared to the feeling he got from the villagers and fellow shinobi.

Tsunade sighed and turned to look at Inoichi who had a cool cloth pressed against his head and was trying to stop the bleeding from the small wound on his head that he'd gotten after being thrown and hitting the floor hard enough to split his skin open at his hair line. "And you Inoichi?"

"I'm good. Nothing some willow bark tea won't cure." The man groaned as Ino tried to ease his pain by healing the wounded area a bit when Naruto asked,

"So who was that guy in Shay's mind? Ya know the one with the Rennegan."

"That was the legendary sage of the six paths." Tsunade said, sounding unusually certain about her assumption. Naruto blinked at the woman as she passed by him then turned around and walked back to where she'd been with a worried expression on her face.

"How the hell-" Naruto started to ask when Tsunade snapped.

"That's what I wanna know! What the hell was the greatest Sage that this world has ever seen; doing residing inside of Shay's mind? Is she supposed to be his reincarnation or something?"

Naruto looked at a loss as Sakura said. "Whatever he was doing there, we now know that Shay is invauble to us. We have to keep her safe."

"I know that!" Tsunade snapped again before saying in a softer tone. "I just wish we had been able to figure out some of her abilities first."

Naruto shifted his hold on Shay and raised one hand into the air and Tsunade turned her head and gave him a killing glare, her agitation clearly showing through her temper. Not that Naruto could blame her any. If he'd been in her position and realized just how sticky a situation he was in, he'd be pretty freaked out too. Especially after learning that the great Sage was somehow involved.

"What?" Tsunade asked after several seconds of glaring at him.

"I think she knows things before they happen."

Tsunade blinked as Sakura perked up and joined in the conversation. "Hey yeah, I think Naruto's right! During the trip here Shay seemed able to sense when Madara's lackey's were about to attack us."

"Not only that but her eyes changed and appeared to display the Rennegan as well." Naruto said thoughtfully. Tsunade, Ino and Inoichi all gaped at them as second before they heard someone running down the distorted hall just outside of the room they were in a moment before Gaara peeked in and growled in a furious tone.

"Madara is here! He's in the camp and Kakashi is slugging it out with him!"


	44. Chapter 44

Someone on the site has decided to be a whiney little nazi bitch about my writing.

They even went so far as to say "that they hoped I failed at writing". Normally most things like this doesn't bother me, I'm used to being ridiculed for every little thing. But this person went too far.

And what's worse is that I don't know who it is and can't report them for abuse. All I can say is that I don't mind people judging me for what I write. I don't even mind when people get offended because a lot of my material _is_ offensive. On several levels. I know this but as a creative person I'm always thinking of ways to push further. It's just the way I am.

But this person should at least have the _decency_ to read more than one chapter before bitching about something that he/she know nothing about.

So- Anonymous where ever you are, if you read this- all I can say is, _Get your head out of your ass or get off my site, you loser._

Now, on to Heirs.(***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Kakashi was sent flying through the back of the tent, the_ frrrrip _of the fabric echoing through his mind. The slightly matalic taste of blood on his tongue fueling the adrenaline pulsing through his blood as he flipped himself. Determined not to let Madara gain the upper hand on him.

If he did, Kakashi was dead. He _knew_ this. It was one of the first things taught to him at the acadamy when he was a child. His feet hit a tree trunk and he focused chakra on the soles of his feet and used it to propel himself forward as Madara ripped his way through the tent, intent to see if Kakashi was finished.

But Kakashi was far from done. The ruthlessness of his nature wouldn't allow him to stop until he or his enemy were dead.

He moved so fast that Madara had trouble seeing him before their bodies crashed together, Kakashi grunted as Madara hissed as they both fell to the ground in a tangle of arms and legs an instant before Kakashi came up over him and started punching him. His blows striking Madara at a rapid pace to ensure that there would be no quick recovery.

Each one carrying the force of a sledgehammer in full swing behind it.

It was _painful, brutal, agonzing_- His bones cracked dangerously, his mind went fuzzy. Spots danced before Madara's eye and he knew he was dangerously close to being taken out completely. After all the copy nin wouldn't stop striking him until his skull cracked open like an over ripe melon and spilled his brains out for everyone to see.

Escape. He needed to escape. _Now! _

He tried to focus some chakra into one of his hands, feeling that if he could strike at Kakashi's heart he'd either be driven back or he'd be so wounded internally that he wouldn't be able to keep fighting. It took three more blows from the copy nin sitting on his chest before Madara was finally able to focus his chakra enough through the blaizing agony trying to fog his mind and as Kakashi reared back his bruised, broken and bloody fist to hit him again he quickly lifted and jabbed with his hand.

He pressed it against Kakashi's chest and the copy nin gave a furious animalistic howl as Madara's chakra did a number on his internal organs. Shredding tissue, while initiating a heart attack. Kakashi's howl died down to a growl of frustration as he partially doubled over, grabbing his chest and gasping in pain as his injuries finally got to him.

Madara shoved the slumping over nin off of him and lay there just breathing as Kakashi wheezed out several choice oaths about his mother and how he came to exist and Madara turned his head and glared at the man for a moment taking exception to some of his oaths yet was unable to do anything about them at the moment since he heard some people (probably nins sent to back Kakashi up) closing in.

He sighed tiredly and made a mental note to pass out somewhere cozy then growled from between blood stained lips. "This isn't over." Kakashi gave him a '_Hell yeah, it's not'_ look and a second later Madara was gone. Leaving Kakashi there gnashing his bloody teeth behind his ripped and torn mask as he tried to breathe through the pain in his chest as several people surrounded him.

He looked up as soon as he felt hands on his back and could vaguely make out the blur Sakura's pink hair as he heard Naruto's voice say, "We've got you sensei. We've got you." Mere moments later everything went black and Kakashi knew no more.

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Tsunade was pacing next to Shay's bedside where Gaara and Mizu had both planted themselves and were refusing to move no matter how many times the woman growled out threats against their lives.

She'd just recieved intel that Kakashi was down and while the report had left some things a little bit vague, she was sure that Sakura was working on him now- trying to fix the damage done to his body so that he wouldn't die.

_It's a good thing that Kakashi has a high threshold for pain and is a little bit of a masochist other wise we'd all be fucked right now. _Tsunade thought as she finally stopped pacing. She still needed to secure Shay as one of the villagers and because she wasn't one to begin with the only thing that she could think to do was marry her off to one or two of the strongest shinobi in the village.

People who could act as her personal bodyguards as well as her family. But the only two people she could think of were, Kakashi (he didn't trust Shay) and Naruto (whom had already decided that the woman and baby were his) and to hell what anyone else thought.

Oh, if she had the two of them in front of her now, she'd slap them both for being stupid. Kakashi, for engaging the enemy without any sort of a plan or backup. And Naruto for always jumping into things headfirst without looking.

Still the mission she had planned for them _should_ appeal to them on some level.

_Should_ being the operative word.

Naruto had more or less sealed his fate by lying and claiming Shay and her unborn child as his own flesh and blood. That was over and done with, there was nothing she could do about it except pray that they made each other happy.

It was Kakashi who would be the hard one to convince. He was nearly fifteen years Naruto's seinor, a former ex-Anbu that had been reinstated a while back. He was stubborn, willful, mean spirited, a sadist- _Oh what I wouldn't give to have that man's personality switched with a poodle! At least then his personality traits would be easier to understand. _He was bratty, snobby, rude, abnoxious- Tsunade sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She felt a headache coming on.

_I'll have to specify that he should sire at least one child on Shay before she kills him._


	45. Chapter 45

Kakashi woke up spitting mad in the medical tent, laying on his back on a cot with an IV drip going in his left arm, the battery powered machines beeping next to him, and _growled_ low in his throat.

Oh that little motherfucker_-_ He'd caused him to have a heart attack while shredding some of his organs with his chakra! _As soon as I get out of this bed, that bitch is fucking dead. _Kakashi thought as he lifted one hand and with some difficulty started to tear out his IV and jumped a little bit when Sakura came in and shouted.

"Kakashi Hatake! You let go of that IV right now or _else_!" His fingers loosened around the plastic tube attached to his arm and he looked at his former student wide eyed, half hoping that she wouldn't decide to punch him or something. It was a reflex, deeply ingraned on his mind to do as she said. After all if she hit him, he doubted he'd survive.

"What happened? Where's Madara?" Kakashi ventured asking as Sakura came over and smacked his hand away from the IV completely. He yelped, startled at the stinging sensation then muttered. "You're bedside manner needs some adjusting."

Sakura leaned down and gave him a narrow eyed look and said in a sickly sweet tone. "What was that? You want some new broken bones. Oh sensei I thought you'd never ask!"

"Don't you dare touch me Sakura!" Kakashi yelled as she reached out a hand, aiming for his chest. He grabbed her hand and strained to keep it away despite the fact that he knew deep down that she'd never really hurt him. But after what Madara had pulled, he wasn't feeling much like letting anyone get near his chest again.

Unfortunately in the state he was in he couldn't stop her and the second before she could touch his chest, he came up off of the bed swinging. Not that Sakura wasn't able to subdue him easily enough to prevent injury to herself and him- but the girl now sitting straddling his waist with her hands holding onto his wrists was starting to seriously piss him off.

"Get off of me Sakura."

"Not until you settle down. You've just had a massive heart attack, you suffered near fatal internal bleeding. You came closer than ever to biting the big one, sensei and your going to stay here and recover or I'll have Naruto and Sai sit on you." Sakura said in an overly chipper tone. Kakashi scoffed.

She wouldn't dare.

Sakura turned her head and called out, "N-a-r-u-t-o! S-a-i! Come here." Kakashi stiffened and got an 'oh shit' look on his face as the two young men peeked inside of the tent for a moment, taking in the scene of Sakura pinning Kakashi to the bed then slipped inside.

"What do you need Sakura?" Sai asked politely as he cocked his head and mentally wondered why he was even there. Sure these were members of his team, but- well, he was supposed to be patroling right about now.

Naruto stood next to the dark haired man with his hands lightly resting on his hips, his expression dark. Just two more minutes. That's what it would have taken to end Madara and his stupid war. And they'd fucking missed him! So natrually he a mite upset. Not only because of that but because Kakashi was badly hurt and being his usual dicky self from the looks of things.

_The moron_. Naruto thought darkly. If his former sensei wasn't so banged up he'd smack ths shit out of him. "I need you two to make sure that Kaka-sensei stays in bed. I don't care how you do it. Break his legs, tie him down- just keep him in bed so he can rest-" Sakura said as she slowly and cautiously climbed off of Kakashi and moved to leave before calling out as she left the tent. "I'll bring you both some food and Kaskashi's pain meds in a little bit."

(***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Tsunade ducked her head as Shay threw a heavy clay bowl at her head as Gaara and Mizu both scrambled to get out of harms way as Shay screamed in a furious tone. "What the fuck do you mean by your marrying me off! Who the good goddamn do you think you are that you have the right-" She picked up the bed side table and threw it. Again Tsunade ducked and moved out of the way, feeling a small kernal of admiration for the pissed young woman.

After all if someone had just told her that they were marrying her off against her will...well, that woulnd never happen due to the fact that pretty much everyone knew that she'd kill them if they tried.

Shay however was displaying a _rightous fury_ that she greatly admired in someone weaker than herself. "I'm not marrying anyone!" Okay, nows the time to step in and crush her foolishness. Tsunade thought as she bellowed.

"_Yes you are!_ And further more-" Shay moved so quickly that Tsunade didn't even have the chance to track her. One second Shay was snarling at her form across the room and the next- something connected with her cheek so hard that her head snapped to the side on her neck and a pair of hands grabbed her by the front of her shirt and Shay was snarling in her face.

_"Don't. You. Dare. Try. To. Order. Me. Around!"_ Shay bit out from between clenched teeth as Tsunade turned her head to look at her, her cheek throbbing like mad. "I've respected your rules and how you run things so far but your not ordering me to marry anyone. I'm not one of your people. _I don't have to listen_."

Tsunade sighed, god this was frustrating. Why was the girl fighting this so badly? Was it because she was being forced or was it because she didn't know who her future husbands were? "Yes. You do and you will." She said with a sense of finality.

Shay made a warning sound and for a moment Tsunade would swear she was looking at Naruto or Kakashi when they were pissed. Shay gave her a mean look and stood up on her tip toes a little bit and hissed in her face. _"Bullshit."_

Tsunade grabbed the smaller woman by the shoulders and shook her a little bit. "Don't be stupid girl- I'm not doing this be sadistic or cruel! I'm doing this so that you'll be safe! Your baby will be safe! The men chosen to be your husbands are the best of the best in this village. Each of them is in a class of thier own. They can protect you from the mad man after you!"

"And what's in it for you and your people? Hm? You think I'm too stupid to know that your desperate right now? What is it that you will gain?"

"Two new bloodlines." Tsunade said bluntly. Shay looked confused for a moment and Tsunade huffed in irritation and explained, "In return for giving you and your child a home with two husbands to protect you and help raise your child... You in return will bear at least one child from _both_ men to continue their clan names-" Shay looked stricken for a moment but that look quickly changed to a sickened look as Tsunade haistily added. "And don't worry about who the men chosen to be your husbands are, they are both kind, affectionate and _wonderful_ men." The second she stopped speaking Tsunade inwardly cringed a little bit.

It was true that Naruto and Kakashi were those things- however they were only like that if they wanted to be.

She had no idea how they would deal with the stress of married life although she was fairly confident that Naruto would thrive if the environment was comfortable enough. Where as Kakashi...

She felt a chill go down her spine and looked uncomfortable. God she had _no_ idea what he would be like. She was just glad that she wasn't the one breaking the news to him at this exact moment.

Shay suddenly started to laugh, the sound tinged with hysteria before saying in a shrill tone. "Here you are talking marriage when all your really doing is trying to turn me into the village whore!" She laughed a little harder as tears slipped down her face and Tsunade saw Gaara and Mizu step back into the room. Both of them with concerned looks on their faces.

Not that Tsunade could blame them any. Shay was looking a little..._off_ at the moment. "I'm not trying to turn you into anything Circe. I'm merely trying to give you a future here. The alternitive, if you continue to refuse will be more unpleasant than-"

"More unpleasant than letting two strangers have me. Being subjected to god knows what sort of abuse or perversion. What your trying to do is sanctioned rape."

"Watch your mouth girl- my people have more sense than to do such a thing. Besides do you think I would pick people who would lay their hands on you without consent? I've already given specific orders that neither of them is to ever do more than hold your hand if you don't want them too. If they do anything to you without your consent all you have to do is tell me and I'll kill the person responsible myself." Tsunade snapped, just a little pissed that Shay would say such a thing.

Rapists and other criminals were dealt with accordingly. Most of them were killed, depending on the severity of their crimes while others had their sex organs removed completely.

Shay suddenly sombered up andgave Tsunade another mean look. "The answer is no."

"Shay-"

"No."

"You need to listen to reason-"

"And you can go fuck yourself." Shay snapped as she turned and stormed out of the tent, rudely shoving Mizu and Gaara aside as she went. Leaving Tsunade standing there gaping in slack jawed disbelief.


	46. Chapter 46

Kakashi couldn't breathe.

He just lay there staring at Naruto with a look of utter disbelief on his face as Sai gave the blond a puzzled look. Just what was Naruto talking about anyways? "What do you mean _we're_ getting married?" Kakashi finally managed to ask in a shakey tone, his heart stuttering in his chest.

The machines next to him beeped, the rythmec patterns on the moniters showing his anxiety better than if he had started to hyperventilate. Good god was everyone out to kill him? He'd just suffered a heart attack and felt his chest throb painfully.

_Christ if this shit keeps up I'll have another attack and keel over dead._ He thought darkly as Naruto shoved his hands into his pants pockets and looked unconcerned as he answered.

"Shay was interrogated and it was found out that she possesses certain safeguards in her mind that are rather curious. Couple this new knowledge with some of the other things we've learned about her and she has a great potential to be of use to the village. Because of this, Madara has deemed her a threat and we have to secure her. As such the two strongest shinobi have been hand picked to-"

"Cut the bullshit Naruto! Talk to me like a damn person!" Kakashi suddenly shouted before a dirty sock was stuffed in his mouth. His entire focus shifted to Sai who was all but laying on top of him by this point, happily toying with him like he often did with Tenzou, Naruto and Sakura. Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the young man and spat out the sock and growled.

"Motherfucker you had better pray that I don't get out of here anytime soon or I am going to kick your ass _soooo_ bad."

"Sticks and stones K-sensei." Sai chirped happily as he laid his head on Kakashi's stomach and giggled as Naruto reached down and tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to the door.

"Okay, Sai. Enough already. I need to tell this to Kakashi. You mind giving us a few?" Sai shrugged and carefully got up off of Kakashi and skipped over to the opening then paused and turned back around to ask.

"Will I get to meet the person your both marrying?"

"Probably." Naruto said without thinking which caused Sai to get a creepy smile on his face a second before he laughed and said.

"Excellent! I need to tell her how big Naruto and K-sensei's dicks are."

Both Naruto and Kakashi turned red and started shouting. "Bastard! Don't you dare!"

"I will _kill_ you once I get my hands on you!" Kakashi shouted as loud as he could before his chest gave a particularly harsh throb and he fell back against his pillow panting and feeling weak. He lay there for several seconds just focusing on breathing before catching Naruto staring at him with a concerned look on his face.

"I'm fine Naruto."

"You may say that sensei, but I know better-" Naruto said seriously before saying. "It must have been hard on you to fight Madara alone." Kakashi let out a bark sounding like laugh and then winched in pain.

"No, Naruto. It wasn't hard. I didn't even feel anything until he laid me low. Then...it hurt like a son of a bitch. But forget about that. Tell me about this woman I'm supposed to marry again."

"Well to be perfectly honest-"

"You were talking about Shay Circe weren't you?" Kakashi asked. Naruto nodded his head and sighed and ran his ringers through his spikey blond hair as he sat down on the edge of Kakashi's bed.

"Tsunade has decided that since she can be of use that you and I both will marry her and act as her live in bodyguards as well as her mates."

"That would be difficult for us considering that she probably dislikes us both." Kakashi said. Naruto snorted.

"Speak for yourself old man. I've already offered to help her raise her kid and take care of her so I've got browny points."

"Ah. Well then it's just me that she'll dislike." Kakashi said before falling quiet for a moment then adding. "I'm not sure if I like being the odd man out."

"Well don't feel bad. I'm sure that Shay feels the same right now."

"I bet she's throwing a fit."

"Probably one hell of a hissy." Naruto said absently. They both sighed heavily.

"She's going to give us hell if we marry her isn't she?"

"We'll be dead within a month."

"I don't want to do this Naruto."

"I know. But orders are orders."

"Do you think that she'll at least kill us quickly?"

"Um..._no_." Naruto said with a nervous laugh.

_"Damn." _Kakashi growled in a vexed tone as he flopped around for a second. Naruto looked at him with an amused look on his face and cocked his head to the left.

"What are you doing?"

"Perfecting the art of playing dead since it's a skill that will come in handy soon."


	47. Chapter 47

Once all joking was aside, Kakashi asked for some details about his and Naruto's future bride and was suprised and shocked speechless to hear of what had happened during the interrogation. And how the last thing he'd seen was the Sage of the six paths residing in Shay's mind, protecting her.

_Well, well, it's no wonder Tsunade wants us to secure her through marriage._ Kakashi thought as he looked towards the tent opening. If any of the other Kages found out about Shay's connection (however small) to the legendary great Sage then they would all be tripping over themselves to have Shay in their possession.

Gaara aside, the other Kage's would be eager to use Shay and her abilities to tip the balance of power between the hidden villages. After all, Konoha village had held a lot of power since the end of the last great war. Military wise, the leaf village had never been beaten before.

But there was a first time for everything as they had all learned when Pein attacked. And while he'd wiped out their village and a few hundred people, they still had _thousands_ upon thousands that were willing, ready and able to still fight. He looked back at Naruto who was frowning down at his feet and wondered what he was thinking.

Was he dreading their marriage to the woman as much as Kakashi was?

"What do you think of this Naruto?" Kakashi finally asked, curious to know what his former student was thinking. Naruto made an 'hn' sound and lifted his head and looked at him.

"I think that Tsunade's made the right call as far as securing Shay goes. And of course picking us to be her husbands and her bodyguards, that was a good choice too since we both know that once the deal is sealed- we'll damn near kill ourselves to keep her safe and provide a decent home for her and her baby. I think the two of us combined will be good fathers to her child. You have some maternal instinct in you. You just _choose_ not to use it. And I have enough maternal instinct for ten people...so-"

"Enough logic Naruto. Tell me what you really think." Kakashi said in an impatient tone.

Naruto's lips quirked a bit and he looked away from Kakashi for a moment. "I think that Tsunade is up to something and you, me, and Shay are just the victims chosen for her mischief this time."

"What do you think her goal is?" Kakashi asked in a wary tone.

"I think it would be safe to say at this point that aside from securing Shay- restoring some of the old and more promising bloodlines would be her goal."

Kakashi ignored the pain in his chest and came up off of the bed so fast that Naruto gave a startled yelp and quickly moved away as his former sensei roared, "You think she wants us to have kids!" Naruto stared at his former sensei wide eyed and slowly nodded his head.

Kakashi growled a menacing sounding, _"Dammit!"_ Then let Naruto help him lay back down.

(*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Shay sat curled up on the floor of Gaara's tent, sniffling among the cushions while Mizu shuffled around behind her. Trying to find the tea leaves so that she could make them some tea since Shay had started throwing up shortly after she had started crying. Mizu had thought that it was understandable _why_ Shay was upset after speaking with her a little bit.

From what she had gleaned of the answers Shay had given to her questions, the place she was from had only one Kage. And while this person ruled over the land and made the laws, he/she couldn't force anyone to do anything they didn't want to do.

Shay had mentioned something called the Decloration of Independence, and something called the Bill of Rights and had told about the wars that had led to their creation.

And had even mentioned the personal freedoms that her people lives with.

Which in itself sounded rather complicated. But when Shay muttered something about, "How dare she disguard my personal rights as a person and order me around like I'm her bitch or something. Who the fuck does she think she is?"

"You'll have to forgive her Shay, I know that Tsunade isn't the easiest to get along with but she's trying." Mizu said gently as she bent down to look in one of Gaara's trunks and almost growled in frustration when she didn't find what she was looking for.

"Oh I get that she's trying, Mizu. It's merely how she's going about it that's all wrong."

"Well, true. But you didn't exactly give her an opening to explain her half of things before you went off the deep end back there." Mizu said absently as she found a trunk under Gaara's bed and promptly pulled it out and opened it, temporarily forgetting that Gaara was a Kage and he might have brought some things with him that he didn't want anyone to see.

She shuffled some stuff around and then made an irritated sound and closed the trunk and shoved it back into place under the bed. "Where the hell-"

"Still looking for the tea?" Shay asked tiredly. Mizu nodded her head. Shay pointed towards the sink area. "Gaara keeps his tea hidden ever since Kankuro started to steal it so that he could use it to unwind and sleep better at night after a bad mission. You'll probably find it in one of the jars next to the sink. He'll have orange- which he drinks when he wants to see Naruto. Chamomile and vanilla- which is his late night blend. And another one that smells like lemongrass. I'm not sure what he drinks it for."

Mizu looked towards the sink and huffed. "You could have told me that you knew where it was to begin with."

"I'm not sure if you've noticed or not but I've been a little bit preoccupied with Tsunades shit so- sorry."

Mizu hummed and got up and walked over to the sink and grabbed one of the small jars and pulled the lid off and sniffed it. Chamomile and vanilla. It was such a pleasant scent. Very relaxing and soothing. _This will help calm Shay down and sooth her stomach nicely. _Then once she was nice and calm they would have a rational conversation about Tsunade's reasons why she had tried ordering Shay to marry two of her top nin.


	48. Chapter 48

"Is your stomach feeling any better now Shay?" Mizu asked as the younger woman set her tea cup aside and sighed.

"Yes. It's much better now, thank you." Shay said tiredly as she leaned back on her arms and popped her neck before asking. "What will be Tsunade's next move if I continue to refuse to marry her men?"

"Well, her most likely course of action will to try to reason with you. When that doesn't work, she'll resort to more..._questionable_ methods."

"Like?" Shay asked as she lay down on the ground of the tent and thought while Mizu listed some of Tsunade's likely next moves. None of which Shay liked hearing. Drugs, brainwashing, _forced compliance_- Everything that Mizu said pissed the young woman off more and more.

Mizu stopped speaking and sighed, all she was doing was making things worse by telling Shay these things. She needed to be a voice of reason and logic since it was obvious that Shay wasn't thinking straight because her anger was clouding her mind. "If I may, Shay. I would like to now list the reasons _why_ Tsunade felt it so important to marry you off to two of her men."

"Madara." Shay spat angrily suddenly, already knowing where this was going. Mizu nodded her head.

"Yes. Madara is a part of the reason. Another part of the reason is that Tsunade feels that your dorment abilities could be a great asset to the village's continued survival-"

"Wonderful. So she'll use me then throw me away. Either that or she'll have me assassinated once she feels that my power becomes dangerous to her position." Mizu gaped at her and gave a nervous sounding laugh. Dear lord for someone who wasn't a shinobi this girl certainly knew and understood how things worked within a shinobi village.

"I doubt that will happen." Mizu said, trying to put her friend's fears to rest. "Especially since you have a very rare bloodline with even _rarer_ power. You're continued existance is Tsunade's goal here. And marrying you to the men would help with that due to the fact that they would play both the parts of your lovers and your bodyguards. Not only that but both men are from very rare bloodlines with very strong powers, themselves. If Madara ever tried to get to you they would stop him or die trying."

"All to keep me alive?"

"Of course."

"Then they're fools. Besides, I can fight for myself." Shay said as she turned over onto her side and curled her body into the fetal position. Mizu stared at her for a second, unsure of what else to say to try and convince her aside from-

"And what about your baby Shay? Will it be able to fight for itself? Tsunade may come across as a total bitch but she's chosen your future husbands wisely. They will treat you well and help you raise your child."

"I don't need their help."

"Stop being stubborn!"

"I'm not being stubborn, I'm being-"

"Bitter? Angry? Girl you need to pull yourself together and do what's best for yourself and your baby." Mizu growled at her in irritation. Her patience fraying.

"And giving in would be the best?"

"I've just laid out the reasons it would be."

"Her demands of me are unresonable Mizu." Shay said softly without looking at her. And Mizu snapped something at her and got up and stormed out of the tent to vent her frustrations. Perhaps Gaara would have more luck than she did. Then again maybe all Shay needed was time to think without someone riding her.

She'd just have to wait and see.

(*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Naruto helped Kakashi sit up and fluffed his pillow before easing him back down so that he could sit more comfortably when Kakashi asked. "What do you think our future bride is doing now?"

"Thnking of a way to kill Tsunade and pin it on Madara."

Kakashi hummed, not doubting for a moment that the girl would be beyond pissed about what Tsunade was ordering them all to do. But he found Naruto's assessment a mite funny. "I'll be impressed if she manages to pull it off." He said in wry humor as Naruto snorted and lightly swatted him on the leg with the back of his hand.

"You shouldn't encourage her bloodlust." Naruto said in an amused tone as Kakashi shrugged his shoulders then said soberly.

"I don't like Tsunade's plan."

"No. I imagine that this would be a rather bitter pill for someone like you to swallow." Naruto said sagely, understanding all too well how Kakashi was feeling even though he wasn't as anxious or pissed about the order as the copy nin was.

"You don't appear to be upset about this any Naruto. Why is that?" Kakashi asked curiously, his question startling the blond.

"Well to be honest Kakashi, to me this is simply an opportunity that I can't pass up."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you consider this an opportunity that you can't pass up?"

Naruto snorted. That had to be one of the stupidest questions he'd ever heard come out of the copy nin's mouth. "Ya know, after all these years Kakashi. You should already know the answer to that even without asking." Naruto said as Sakura came back into the tent carrying a tray of food in one hand and a small cup with pills in another.

Naruto stood up and brushed past Sakura, muttering about having something to do before slipping out of the tent to go find Shay and check up on her.


	49. Chapter 49

A while after Mizu left Shay got a headache from thinking about everything and wound up falling asleep on the ground of the tent. She must have laid there for a while because around the time she started to stir, she could feel someone stroking her hair and frowned a little bit. Consciousness slowly seeped back into her mind and she opened her eyes to find Gaara sitting on the ground next to her absently brushing her hair back from her face.

"Gaara?"

He looked down at her, startled by her voice and gave her a small smile as he forced himself to relax. "Hello Shay. Are you feeling well?" She grunted and rubbed her eyes with one hand as she rolled over onto her back, her head bumping into one of his legs. He shifted a little bit away from her as she slowly pushed herself up before answering his question.

"I'm fine. I just fell asleep due to a headache."

"Feeling stressed?"

"Wouldn't you if you were ordered to marry people you didn't know?" Shay answered him with another question. Gaara's aqua eyes flickered to her and he felt a little bit tempted to tell her that he already had a harem of women, all of whom were considered his wives back in his village but he doubted that that would help her get used to her new situation any.

So he said nothing for a moment before shrugging and saying. "Probably."

"Do you know who Tsunade chose for me to marry?" Shay asked suddenly, feeling that maybe if she could place names with the unknown faces that maybe she would be able to settle down a bit and get a better feel for the men's personalities. Feeling that it would help her think more easily on how to get out of this _damndable_ predicament.

"I do." Gaara said as he shifted a bit more until he was sitting cross legged and set an elbow on his knee and propped his chin up in his hand and stared at her. She was fishing for information to help her find something to object too when she was bound and determined to object to her marriage anyways.

"Will you tell me?" Shay asked curiously. Gaara considered her question for a moment when he sensed Naruto's chakra outside of his tent and turned his head slightly and called out to the blond.

"Stop skulking about Naruto! People will think your a fan boy or something." Naruto slipped into the tent and scowled at him for a second. Apparently offended that anyone might think such a thing about him. Gaara chuckled.

"I'm assuming that you're here to speak with Shay about your wedding." Gaara said and was nearly knocked over by Shay as she turned around and quickly scrambled across the red heads lap forcing him to lean back and straighten his legs in an effort to keep from having certain area's on his body hit by one of her hands or knees as she fairly shrieked.

_"That blond old bat is marrying me to him?" _Naruto gave her a peculiar look then glanced at Gaara who had a pained look on his face. The blond chuckled and moved to sit down across from Gaara in the same cross legged position the red head had been in before Shay had crawled into his lap.

"You sound surprised, Boss. I think I'm a little bit offended." Naruto said teasingly. Shay gaped at him in wide eyed disbelief for a moment before Gaara hissed.

"You can be as offended as you like, Naruto. Just please get her off of my lap." Naruto reached out and grasped Shay's waist in his hands and lifted her up off of the Kage and set her in his lap and grinned when Shay flushed and gave him a mean look and said 'hi' to her as Gaara forced himself to relax and got back in his prior position.

Shay squirmed in Naruto's grasp as Gaara muttered something about needing to go snare squirrels or something and got up and left Shay with Naruto so that they could talk. The second he was outside Naruto dropped his hands away from Shay's waist and let her move away from him, though he was a mite disappointed about doing so.

"I'm assuming that you have questions about some things." Naruto said in a lazy, laid back manner.

"Nothing aside from; How do I get out of this?"

Naruto sighed and steeled himself against the potential harm he might come to as he replied. "You can't." Shay gave him a narrow eyed look and growled at him.

"Like hell I can't. Where there's a will, there's a way."

"I admire your perserverance and spunk, but it won't do you any good. The order has already been given. We're all trapped in this. The only thing left to consider is making the best of the situation." Naruto said smoothly, hoping that she would listen to reason. Shay huffed and crossed her arms over her breasts, her body language all but _screaming_ her defiance.

_No such luck, eh._ He thought in wry amusment before asking, "Why won't you at least give me and the other guy a chance? Is it because of that dark haired guy I saw in your memories earlier?" Naruto asked curiously and watched Shay flinch as if he'd slapped her, as all the color draining from her face. _Ah. So that is a part of it._ Naruto thought, hitting the nail on the head before asking, "What did he do to you Shay?"


	50. Chapter 50

Forgive me if Kakashi and Tsunade are too OC in this chapter. I tried to keep them in character. Really.

(**********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Shay was a little slow about speaking of the dark haired man. It was as if she were trying to collect her thoughts before speaking or maybe she was simply having trouble articulating her thoughts enough to speak. But when she did start speaking he could hear the distress in her voice. Could see it in the way she fidgeted with her hands and looked anywhere but at him.

It was obvious that she didn't want to talk about this particular subject but Naruto felt compelled to know. After all Shay was going to be his wife soon whether she liked it or not and having a better grasp of her past and who she was as a person would go a long ways towards their joined future.

She told him that things had been good at first, the man- _Miki Henderson_- Naruto thought with a displeased scowl as he listened to her; had been a man that hadn't just been abusive towards her.

He'd isolated her. Verbally and physically tormented her. All while cheating on her with six other women. Then when she'd finally decided enough was enough and confronted him about it he had blamed her for_ everything_. Reopened old wounds about her family's deaths and nearly beat her with in an inch of her life.

Trying to bend her to his will.

She'd fought back of course. He didn't doubt that for a second considering her personality. She was far too prickly and touche not to have fought back. That and she had her pride as a woman which was something that wouldn't allow her to be beaten by some sick fucker with a hard on for torturing defensless young women.

She'd gotten vicious in her counter attacks and had ripped him a new one before tossing him out of her home and leaving him screaming and crying in pain for nearly forty five minutes while she went and got his stuff and threw it all outside on top of him. Rebreaking some of his already broken bones among other things before finally calling someone to help him.

Now Naruto was a very a fairly laid back person, but hearing all of the stuff that Shay told him and seeing the distress that even the mere memory of those things caused- Well, he could more than understand Shay's reluctance at being _bound_ to anyone when the only adult relationship she'd ever had had ended in such disaster.

If he'd been in her place he wouldn't feel all that keen on marrying a couple of total strangers against his will either. Not when he really looked at things from her perspective. _Damn._ He thought angrily as he reached out and put a hand on her shoulder and said something about needing to see Tsunade and Kakashi then politely excused himself.

If that was part of the reason Shay was so reluctant about the marriage then Tsunade and Kakashi may know how to win her over once they heard everything. Then maybe, just maybe they could get things over with.

He was dying to start this latest chapter in his life.

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Kakashi was trying to escape again while Sakura's back was turned this time and while he knew it was very risky of him to do so, in his defense- He _hated_ the hospital and everything in it with a passion that was only rivaled by his current bloodlust. Oh that little son of a bitch Madara was going to pay for putting him in this situation. And he was going to pay big.

Kakashi was so pissed off that he couldn't see straight. Which may be why he wound up tripping and falling into one of the machines. Alerting Sakura to his position as she slowly turned her head to give him a wide eyed look that quickly morphed into a demonic look.

"Why Kakashi-sensei- You wouldn't be thinking of escaping while I was looking over your charts... would you?"

Kakashi looked at her as she slowly turned her body and started to crack her knuckles as she approached him and quickly shook hsi head no and tried to come up with a possible lie to keep himself from being maimed and injured any further.

The only one he could come up with was, "I think I hear my mommy calling me." He put one hand over his mouth and changed his voice and called out his own name a few times then pointed at the opening at the front of the tent and gave Sakura a helpless look. As if to say, _See. She's calling me. I have to go home now. _

Sakura gave him a look of comical disbelief and grabbed him by the ear and hauled him to his feet yelping and cursing as Sakura dragged him back to his cot and tied him to it to make sure that he couldn't escape.

Oh yes, Madara would pay. _Dearly._ With his flesh and his blood and his intrails... Kakashi swore it on his now red and aching, throbbing ear.

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Tsunade was sitting in her makeshift office with her feet propped up when Naruto appeared in a puff of smoke, startling her so badly that she fell back out of her seat then jumped up and roared, "You little punk! What the hell is wrong with you that you can't even knock!"

Naruto looked around at the clothe walls of the tent and then looked back at her.

She did know that knocking wouldn't do any good in this case right? After all, fabric couldn't make noise unless it was ripped. "I need to talk to you about Shay." He said absently, ignoring her as she snarled at him and picked up her chair and sat back down with as much dignity and grace as she could muster.

"What about her?"

"I think I know why she's so opposed to marrying."

"You mean aside from driving me crazy- _please_...share what you know with the rest of us mere mortals." She said sarcastically. Naruto gave Tsunade a scowl and her lips twitched slightly. Ah. She'd missed trading verbal banter with him since all this crap with the new war had started up. He didn't show himself as often, and spoke even less.

In fact all this business with the Circe woman was the most she'd seen and heard of him in _months_. _He's becoming more and more like his father by the day_. It wouldn't be long before she'd be able to retire and he'd take up the mantle of Hokage.

Naruto hesitated for a second, unsure if she was really willing to hear him out or not. But decided that it was worth a try and nodded and walked over to her desk and sat down on the edge of it, right next to her paper work and crossed his arms and ankles and started talking.


	51. Chapter 51

Tsunade massaged her temples and looked like she was about ready to hurl, she was just so_ frustrated _with this entire Shay Circe mess. And after Naruto had explained to her what he'd learned she felt her earlier assessment of Circe trying to drive her crazy was right on the damn mark.

She couldn't believe that the girl had managed to hide this little bit of information from her when her mind had been looked into by Inoichi.

Then again, Tsunade had only wanted to know certain bits of information and what little bit of Shay's love life that had been skimmed over- wasn't what she wanted to know which was why it had been ignored. Still...knowing now what Naruto had brought to her attention made her reaction to an arranged marriage more understandable.

It wasn't so much that she felt her freedom was being taken from her- Tsunade doubted that anyone could take Shay's freedom from her without suffering something horrible for it.

It was more like- She hated the fact that she had escaped one person trying to bend her to his will only to end up with another, this time a woman; who was trying to do the same. It was painful. And though she knew Shay would never admit it, Tsunade's order to have her married off to two of her men had probably scared the girl in ways that she had never been scared before.

After all nothing Tsunade or anyone else said could stop the girl from feeling whatever she was feeling right now. And no matter how many times someone told her that she was safe with her future husbands, Shay wouldn't believe any of it because she had been lied too before.

"Okay Naruto. Now that I know what I'm up against, what do you suggest I do?"

"Well, I would suggest that you hold off on the wedding for a bit but I understand that trying to get through to her will take more time than we can afford with the war about to start. So the marriage should go through. In fact, move it up to a day or so from now. Gaara can help me get her ready and we'll have the ceremony in the medical tent if Kakashi isn't back on his feet just yet-" Naruto said, a calculating look on his face as he continued.

"Spread the word among the villagers and other nins that Shay is married to me and Kakashi. That we absolutely _adore_ her and anyone coming after her will die by our hands. After our marriage I would also suggest some time with her away from the village with a small handful of guards. Five jounin and three chunin. Kakashi and myself included. And one of them should be a medical nin, just in case. We'll spend a few weeks on a sort of honeymoon with her and try to lay her fears to rest by showing her that we mean her no harm."

"I never thought that I would hear such a ruthless plan from your lips gaki."

"It's only ruthless because it seems cruel. But securing her and keeping her safe from Madara as well as the other villages is our top priority at the moment. Everything else will simply have to wait until after she's bound to myself and Kakashi."

"It's still cruel Naruto."

"Maybe it appears that way because you yourself are a woman and once was weak and defenseless. Which is why you can understand her thoughts and feelings."

"True. As a woman I can understand her thoughts and feelings however- She's going to be _soooo_ pissed that you and Kakashi will have to sleep with both eyes open."

Naruto chuckled, the sound amused at the prospect of having to gear up to protect himself from his soon to be bride. He imagined she'd put thumb tacks in his and Kakashi's shoes every night, and possibly cook over cooked, blackened meals in an effort to starve them out. _We'll be lucky if we aren't dead within a week... _Naruto thought as a chill shot down his spine.

"Well, if there's nothng else to put grey hairs on my head. Then I was wondering if maybe I should have Sakura explain the mechanics of sex with shinobi to Shay." Naruto felt his mind come to a screetching halt and he slowly turned his head to look at Tsunade, his expression one of comical horror.

As if to say, _Oh my god no!_ _Spare us please! _Tsunade smirked evilly at him and he flushed a nice red and shook his head knowing exactly what Sakura would be told to say to Shay.

Everything including, stamina, penis size, sexual positions, as well as creative ablilities in the bedroom.

Shay would also be informed of any fetishes that he or Kakashi may have as well. Naruto himself didn't have any fetishes...or at least he didn't think so. While Kakashi had some that were just so weird to the blond. Ranging from spankings (both giving and receiving) biting, and being tied up and dominated.

In short- Shay would never let them near her if she knew even _one_ of those things. She would simply be too intimidated by them. Or perhaps she would be embarrassed? He wasn't totally sure but he'd rather she walked into the bedroom with himself and Kakashi, ignorant of all of those things, just in case.


	52. Chapter 52

After leaving Tsunade's tent Naruto made his way to the medic tent where Kakashi was and immediately paused when he heard his former sensei snapping and snarling like a rabid animal, inside. "Goddamn you Sakura! Untie me now!"

Curious to see what Kakashi was carrying on about Naruto used one hand to hold the flap back a little bit and blanched at the sight of the imfamous Copy nin tied to a hospital bed by his pink haired teammate whom looked none too pleased at the moment.

She was glaring down at Kakashi with a look of disdain on her pretty face, her arms were crossed over her chest and she had one foot firmly planted on the squirming and bucking Copy nin's chest.

"How about you shut up and do as your told before I seriously hurt you." Sakura growled from between clenched teeth as she stomped on Kakashi's stomach once to emphasize her meaning, earning a yelp from Kakashi before a furious rumbling growl filled the air before Kakashi snarled.

"As if some little flat chested bimbo could hurt me!" There was a slight flicker of disbelief across Sakura's face before she hissed and her expression became demonic.

"_What was that shit for brains?_ You wanna die? Okay I'll help you along-" Sakura said as she cracked her knuckles menacingly.

Naruto rolled his eyes at the two's childish behavior and decided that maybe he should try talking to someone else first about Tsunade's orders.

However Shay was out. Kakashi was about to be punched out. Sakura was going to be busy putting Kakashi back together again once she ripped him apart... Maybe he should keep his thoughts to himself until everyone was calmer, then try talking to someone.

Yeah, someone else might be able to give him some insight on what to do next since everyone else was already busy. He dropped his hand from the tent flap and calmly turned on his heel and started walking.

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Shay had been in a state of agitation ever since she and Naruto had had their talk.

Which was probably to be expected considering what they had been talking about but her mood was starting to get to him and all he wanted her to do was _sit the hell down_. "Shay please stop pacing. I find it distracting." Gaara said as he tried to meditate and regain some of his composure.

Shay's footsteps faltered for a moment, and then, just when he was about to sigh in relief- they started up again. Sighing in frustration Gaara opened his eyes to see Shay moving back and forth in front of him just a few feet away.

"There has to be some way out of this marriage crap. No one forces others to marry anymore!"

"There is no way, dearest. Now please- sit down and rest. Conserve your energy for better uses."

"Like running away."

"You would never get past the shinobi in the village, much less Mizukage-san and myself. So running would be a futile endevor." Gaara said as his eyes started to drift closed again when Shay made a sudden movement that startled him. His sand reacted to his startlement and wrapped itself around her body, ready to rend it to pieces when he realised what his sand was doing and instantly tried to calm himself again.

It took a little longer than he would have liked due to the fact that he was feeling a little bit rattled at the moment. But after taking several deep breaths and finally centering himself enough to loosen his sand's hold on her completely.

Shay looked down at the thin trendles of sand wrapped around her body with a small frown on her face, whatever she had been about to say to Gaara had been forgotten the instant she had been grabbed by his sand. "Shay? Are you alright?" Gaara asked after a moment or so of silence.

She looked at him, her expression curious. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" He asked as he got to his feet and walked over to her and hesitantly put his hands on her shoulders. Shay nodded her head and he made a soft huffing sound and hugged her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be startled by you-"

"I didn't realise that someone as calm as you _could_ be startled. So that was more my fault than yours. Think no more of it." Shay said as she hesitantly hugged him back, not understanding exactly why he was apologizing.

She wasn't hurt. Nor was she upset. Well okay, not with _him_ anyways. She was upset about her situation and her upcoming, unwilling marriage to two men. But other than that everything was fine for the moment.

"I'm fine Gaara. Really." She said as he lifted one hand and ran her blunt fingernails through his hair in an effort to comfort him while trying to think of what she could do to get out of the damndable marriage.


	53. Chapter 53

Afternoon the next day wasn't any easier for Shay, not when it seemed that every shinobi and citizen in the village- friend and otherwise- knew about her forced upcoming marriage to Naruto and Kakashi. Iruka had come by her tent bright and early that morning, waking her from a sound sleep for a nice lengthy talk on how Naruto had grown up.

But he ended their talk with a nice, "But he's a good kid deep down."

Next had been a group of guys that she had been sure were going to kill her, their demenor wasn't the slightest bit friendly at first. But after the leader of the group, a fellow named Shikamaru introduced himself and asked what she thought of the village- that sparked a whole another visit. The group all sat down with her and talked about some of the missions they had taken with Naruto and Kakashi.

But stopped speaking when she started to cringe upon hearing certain things. Shikamaru sighed and quickly changed the conversation to lighter things. Starting with some of the village traditions that he thought she might like.

One guy named Neji told her that if she ever needed a babysitter that he'd watch the little one for her and Shay blanched a little bit, unsure about how to react to the fact that he knew she was pregnant. So she politely thanked him before the conversation moved on.

By the time they decided to leave, Shay had a _pounding_ headache and her morning sickness was starting to hit her hard since she had to run for the sink and dry heaved for several minutes before her next set of visitors, a group of pre-teen kids with a man dressed in black appeared, carrying several baskets of fruit, crayon colored papers and other things for her.

Curious about what some of the stuff was she sat down for lunch and started to go through some of the pictures. From the way they looked they were drawn by young children. Each picture was brightly colored with flowers, animals, a stick person likness of Naruto and a few of his friends. Some of Kakashi and one or two of her wearing a wedding dress with silver swirls and lace.

The pictures were adorable.

But somehow it felt like they were being used to sway her from fighting Tsunade further by giving her a glimpse into the lives of the people of the village. Meeting them, learning their feelings about her marriage to Naruto and Kakashi.

It was obvious that they looked upon these things in a favorable fashion. Which was frustrating in itself since Shay didn't look upon the union in such a way.

Pushing aside her lunch plate she lightly banged her head on the table before deciding that she needed some air. Sighing she got up and took her plate over to the sink and set it down then went and grabbed some shoes and slipped them on and headed outside where several guards were posted.

"I'd like to go for a walk." She said, half expecting them to force her to stay put. However one of them fell into step beside her while the other one disappeared. Presumably to hide himself just in case they were attacked.

Shay sighed tiredly, hating all the attention and hype that came with Tsunade's decree because it meant that everyone in the village would be imposing themselves on her and watching her when she just wanted to be left alone.

Feeling like she was about to suffocate she grasped her guards arm and said in a somewhat strained sounding voice, "Could you please take me to see Gaara?"

Her guard must have realized that she was starting to feel overwhelmed by everything because he slipped an arm around her waist and said in a low tone. "Miss, I can summon one of your betrothed here. Would you rather I do that? You aren't looking very well."

"I- No. Don't summon anyone. Just take me to Gaara. He'll make sure that I rest until I feel better."

"Very well." The guard said as he started walking again, noting that Shay was having some trouble. She kept stumbling and would have fallen a number of times if he hadn't been there to partially support her. He thought she was wrong about not wanting one of her betrothed by her side at the moment but let it slide so that he could focus on getting her to the Kazakage's tent so that she could rest.


	54. Chapter 54

Gaara had just finished taking advantage of the shower set up in his tent and was toweling off when an Anbu that he recognized as one of Shay's guards suddenly appeared in his tent.

And for a moment everything froze as both men were made _uncomfortably_ aware of the fact that Gaara was just standing there with a towel in his hand. As naked as the day he was born, with little drops of water running down his skin causing him to shiver.

"Ah, forgive me sir!" The flustered Anbu said in a nervous tone of voice. "I didn't mean to intrude- B-But Lady Circe has collapsed!"

Gaara didn't react to his words at first.

He was too busy thinking up creative ways to toss the Anbu out of his private space on his ass. That and he was sort of trying to will his pants on. It wasn't working so far, but despite that he kept trying.

After all it wasn't like he could shriek like a little girl and dive for cover. He was a man. And he'd act like one dammit.

He glanced towards where he had left his pants, longingly then looked back at the Anbu who by this point had covered the eye slits in his mask with his hands and was waiting for the Kage to say or do something. Gaara sighed tiredly, that blasted woman caused no end of problems.

_Thank god_ she was being married off to Naruto and Kakashi. He'd have likely died of a heart attack if she had wound up in his harem. "Where did she collapse?" He finally asked as he used his sand to snag his pants and a sleeveless shirt so that he could dress as the Anbu said.

"She collapsed while out for a walk, but-"

"But?" Gaara asked as he pulled on his pants and buttoned the fly.

"But she asked me to bring her here."

"Then where is she?" Gaara asked with an bite of annoyance in his tone. This leaf nin was starting to piss him off.

"Uh... Outside sir. I thought it would be best to announce our presence."

Gaara pulled the sleeveless shirt over his head quickly then walked across the tent, shoving the Anbu aside so that he could slip outside and check on Shay himself but stopped once he had the tent flap held back out of the way. There just outside of his tent, leaning against a tree trunk, was Shay.

And sitting above her with a small book, open in one hand and a little bouquet of milky white peonies in the other, was Naruto. "Yo Gaara." The blond greeted almost absently.

"Hey." Gaara greeted back.

"What's Shay doing napping in such an area? She could get sunburnt or something." Naruto said, his tone light.

"Uh...apparently she collapsed a little while ago and was brought here." Gaara said and watched Naruto snap his book closed and jump down. His expression thunderous.

_"Why wasn't I summoned?"_ Naruto asked in a dark tone as he knelt down next to Shay and started checking her vitals and chakra. Gaara shrugged his shoulders. Damn he knew he had forgotten to ask something.

"I honestly couldn't say." Gaara said as Naruto growled.

"This can't continue Gaara. She is to be wife to myself and Kakashi- She can't keep coming to you for every little thing. It simply isn't healthy." Gaara stiffened a little bit at his borther's words and tried not to feel offended by them.

He knew Naruto was right.

Shay couldn't continue to run to him for every little thing. But she didn't _trust_ anyone else. Nor did she_ know_ anyone else. She relied on him to keep her out of trouble and make sure that she didn't get hurt. And while he could limit how often she came to him by forcing her to turn elsewhere for help when she needed it...it would hurt him to do so.

Especially since he had come to enjoy her company so much.

"Look Gaara I'm not saying that it's not good that she feels safe around you. Ir that I don't trust you to take care of her. I know that she's your friend. But you won't be here in the village forever and who will she run too after that?" Naruto asked in a softer tone as he reached out and pushed back some of Shay's hair as he placed his hand on her forehead to check for a fever.

"You're right Naruto..." But without her around he would get terribly lonely. "I will start distancing myself from her immediately." Gaara said in an emotionless tone that had Naruto sighing as he turned his head to look at his friend.

Did Gaara really think he was so cruel as to force him to seperate himself from Shay so early? Dear god he might revert back to how he had been if he did. In which case what was left of the village might wind up destroyed! Besides, he didn't want Gaara to resent him.

"No. Don't do that yet. Let's wait until about a week or so until you return to your village. Until then, if she needs something refer her to me or Kakashi. Unless of course she happens to have collapsed like she did today. Then you should send her to Sakura. And if she's out for a walk and you just happen to be walking the same way..."

Gaara snorted. "I get it Naruto."

"Good."


	55. Chapter 55

Kakashi was pulling his shirt on despite the glare from his former student aimed at his back. "Sensei..." Sakura growled in warning as she made a fist. She wanted to smack him so badly right now that it was a wonder she could restrain herself.

"Be quiet Sakura, I've done as you asked. Albeit begrudgingly, but I've still done as you asked never the less-" Kakashi said as he grasped his vest in one hand and started to pull it on as Sakura snorted and muttered.

"Yeah right. Inbetween the yelling and hissing and kicking and carrying on like a child." Kakashi gave her a dirty look over one of his shoulders that should have sent the little chit fleeing in terror. But instead she just continued her damned hovering.

He cleared his throat and continued to say what he had been saying before. "Now, I'm leaving this damned medic tent-"

"Despite orders not too. Because you're heart could still give out." Sakura snapped, irritably.

"And I'm going to go home, get cleaned up and relax a bit. A heart attack like the one Madara induced takes a lot out of a man." Kakashi said and paused as the tent flap was suddenly pulled back by an Anbu and Naruto walked in carrying an unconscious Shay carefully cradled in his arms.

"Sakura-"

"Naruto what happened?" The pinkette asked as she quickly climbed over the cot Kakashi was sitting on, nearly knocking the already _irked_ Copy nin over in the process, and ran over to Naruto and quickly started examining the woman in his arms while Kakashi watched the whole scene in distaste.

He couldn't stand the sight of Shay.

And it wasn't because he had anything in particular against her. In fact she really was a lovely person when you sat down and got to know her a bit. But that didn't change the fact that he just had an _strong_ automatic and_ total_ dislike for the woman.

Still... He was just a mite curious/concerned about the woman.

Sakura directed Naruto to lay Shay on one of the other cots in the tent then had him stand back out of the way while she hooked up an IV drip while muttering under her breath about how pregnant women should take more care to keep hydrated. Among other things.

Naruto looked over at Kakashi as the man stood up and slowly walked over to see what was up, and almost grinned. He knew of his sensei's dislike for Shay. But that didn't seem to stop the man from worrying over her health. Especially when her position in the village was so precarious that the stress of it could cost her her baby. So when Kakashi stopped to stand right next to him and asked in a low tone, "What happened?" Naruto wasn't terribly surprised.

"Not sure. I was told that she just passed out." Naruto replied in an equally low tone as Sakura said.

"Well you can't exactly blame her. She's stressed and fatigued due to her pregnacy and other things. Then on top of everything she's badly dehydrated. Frankly I'm shocked that she didn't collapse sooner."

"Will she be okay?" Naruto asked.

"Will the baby be okay?" Kakashi asked and bristled a little bit when his two former students gave him amused looks that made him feel as if he should defend himself. "What? Just because I don't like her doesn't mean I want an innocent life to come to harm!" He growled at them. The two just smirked at him like the cheeky little brats they were as Naruto drawled out in a lazy tone.

"Sure sensei. Whatever you say." Making the Copy nin long to wrap his fingers around the younger mans throat and throttle him. Kakashi growled at the two and crossed his arms over his chest and quickly looked away in a sulking gesture. Making the two snicker at him as he glanced at Shay out of the corner of his eye and mentally frowned.

Despite disliking the woman, he really did hope that she and the baby were okay. There was nothing more tragic than the loss of a child and that was something he hoped she would be spared from. Which was why he suggested the stupidest thing. That someone stay and watch her over her.

And natrually upon hearing his suggestion, Sakura nominated him for the job. The little minx.


	56. Chapter 56

Yo! I'm back kittens. How have you been?

I know that it's been a while but that in no way means that I've quite any of my fics. Some of the older ones are just harder for me to pick up than others. Luckily for you, I have a system.

However people and things are conspiring to keep me down. Today my dad was admitted to the hospital with heart problems. The doctors are talking about doing surgery on him but they can't do it where he's at now. He needs to see a specialist.

Now that I'm done telling you all the news that is news, without further ado- here's another chapter of Heirs.

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After being nominated to watch over Shay, Kakashi was only able to sputter in outrage as Sakura gave him and Naruto both instructions to wait until the IV drip was completely finished before they left. She even went so far as to point out that Naruto would have to carry Shay to his tent and put her out of the way so that he could relax a bit.

And by the time she was done talking, the Copy nin was already thinking up creative ways to kill his former student for foisting that- that _woman_ onto him. Sakura must have known how he felt just from looking at him because she gave Naruto specific instructions not to leave Kakashi alone with Shay while she slept and couldn't put up a decent fight.

That had been over two hours ago, before the IV drip had ended and Naruto had left him after making a subtle threat to his person. If anything happened to Shay... Kakashi would be spending what's left of his miserable life in the medic tent. Hooked up to machines just to stay alive.

Kakashi had to admit even as he cringed, his kids knew him far too well. So...since Naruto had left Kakashi had decided to vent a little bit.

His mind shifting from wanting to kill his former students and hang them from the highest tree by their insides, to wondering if Shay was comfortable on his bed, then to freaking out about having her scent permeate every corner of his new home.

Right now he was standing over by his sink, a towel wrapped around his broad shoulders, with a knife in one hand and an apple in the other; just staring at the two as if he had no idea what to do with them before carving the name 'Sakura' into the apple.

And then stabbed it wildly several times until it was so mangled that there were just bits and pieces left.

Grunting he reached over to the little straw bowl sitting a few inches to his left and grabbed another apple and this time carved 'Naruto' into it and then proceeded to kill it too.

A small goofy grin curving his lips. _Wow is sort of fun._ He thought as he repeated the action several more times before sighing and laying aside the knife and quickly cleaning up the mess he'd made then washed his hands to keep them from becoming sticky then turned and glanced over at his bed and sighed again.

How did Sakura and Naruto expect him to relax and get better when he had to babysit? Moving quietly he made his way over to where Shay lay curled up asleep on her side and just stood there for a moment, staring down at the woman that he would be marrying.

Now that he had vented his frustrations a bit, he felt calm enough to think of other things.

Like what he was going to do about Shay. Sure he was being forced to marry her. And like Naruto, he could make the best of a bad situation. But she was very young. Far too young to be tied to the likes of him.

She would expect love, but there was none left in him. At most he could manage to give her respect. Perhaps even kindness, but only if she deserved it.

She made a low sound and he noted the small frown marring her pretty face as she slept and wondered idly if her baby was going to look like her or it's father. He'd asked a few questions about it's father, of course. While he and the rest of team Kakashi had been escorting Gaara to the village. But she had never really said anything about him.

He supposed that he could request the information from Tsunade if she had bothered to ask the girl about her baby's father during her interrogation. But there was no real guarantee that Tsunade would hand the info over to him.

Reaching out he unconsciously brushed back some of her vivid fuschia hair back from her cheek and mused out loud. "I hope the kid at least has it's father's hair." Unless it was a horrible color like pink.


	57. Chapter 57

**_Ah it has been a while. Again sorry. I haven't forgotten any of my Naruto stories, they just aren't clicking at the moment because my mind is consumed with other things. _**

**_But that doesn't mean something doesn't flit through my mind once in a while._ **

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After killing a few more apples and pacing about his home restlessly, Kakashi finally settled down in the farthest corner of the room next to the book case that had been set up as a present for him by several of his old Anbu buddies. And picked an old and worn book with his family crest on it from one of the shelves and started to thumb through the pages curiously.

He wasn't sure who had found it, but it held a wealth of information that he had never known about his clan before. Ranging from things like proper clan etiquette to who held the real power in the clan. And it irked him to read that it wasn't the males of his clan that handled things or held the power- it was the women.

So natrually after reading a few pages about how the women of the Hatake clan held sway over the men, Kakashi looked at Shay and then promptly ripped several of the pages out of the book and then used his chakra to burn them.

There was no way he was letting her know that she would hold that much power over him once they were married.

He'd rather have his manhood and balls removed by a rusty hook first. No wait- he'd rather _die_ first.

"I will not give Shay any knowledge of this-" He muttered darkly as he thumbed through the rest of the book to make sure that there was no more, ahem- questionable materials in it- before setting it aside for Shay to look over later since it might be a good idea for her to know some of the stuff in it as his future bride.

Shortly after he finished checking the rest of the book out, he found another and was settling down to read when he felt the presence of both Gaara and Naruto outside and sighed in irritation.

_Damn_. Couldn't he catch a break today? He wondered as the two entered his home without his permission and quickly located both him and Shay. "Yo Kaka-sensei." Naruto said in his usual relaxed manner that reminded the copy nin far too much of Lord Jiraiya before he had died. Kakashi arched a brow at the blonde but said nothing as both younger men made their way over to the bed before Gaara asked,

"How is she doing?" She- Kakashi thought- would be the irritating female snoozing on his bed without a damned care in the world. Where as he, had to suffer the hard floor of his home since no one had saught fit to give him any chairs. Something that didn't bode well for his joints.

In fact, he'd probably be hobbling about the village like an ancient, decrepit old man for at least the next week.

"She's resting. Can't you tell?" Kakashi snapped in an irritable tone before he was asked.

"Has she woken up?"

"Has she eaten?"

Kakashi took his nose out of the book in his hands just long enough to give a snarl that would have impressed a saber tooth tiger. _"No." _Both Naruto and Gaara gave the copy nin an predatory look before Gaara said,

"Naruto, I don't think Kakashi-san has been seeing to our girl the way he was supposed too." Naruto cracked his knuckles in a way that made the copy nin flinch and think of Sakura when she was PMSing about something and paled a little bit as Naruto muttered in a dark tone.

"I think you may be right."

"We should do something."

"We should break something important off of him-"

"Wouldn't it be kinder to simply kill him?" Gaara asked as he cocked his head to the side a little bit as Naruto smiled this slow, sinister smile that made Kakashi's blood freeze in his veins.

"Kill him. Break him. They're both the same to me." Kakashi blanched a little bit and leaned heavily against the side of his home, trying to become one with the tent fabric as Naruto took a small step in his direction looking positively evil.

"H-Hey now! I just got out of the hospital from a heart attack! You can't do this crap to me!" Kakashi said as Naruto's eyes flashed to crimson. Scaring the holy shit out of Kakashi for a heartbeat or two before the younger man's eyes went back to normal and he suddenly doubled over laughing. Kakashi blinked at the sudden change in him and glanced over at Gaara to see the red head was no longer looking at him and his body was shaking slightly with barely suppressed mirth.

"Oh, you two are just the worst-" Kakashi growled as he threw the book in his hands at Naruto's head and missed by a mile as Naruto bent his spine back to avoid it then said,

"Sorry Kakashi sensei. Gaara and I just couldn't resist."


	58. Chapter 58

Sorry** it's been so long- I'm suffering sever health problems and I've been exhausting myself with doctors visits and such. And yet no one can figure out what's wrong with me.**

**Anyways... Here is the next chapter of Heirs. **

**Please forgive me if it's too short.**

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"You're both jerks." Kakashi blurted out without thinking and paled slightly under his mask as both Naruto and Gaara stared at him in slack jawed disbelief.

They were jerks? _Really?_ This was coming from the same man who thought that a defenseless woman like Shay- a pregnant woman- was out to destroy them all. And _they_ were the jerks.

Azure eyes met aqua as the two younger men silently communicated with each other.

Should they make Kakashi pay for insulting them when the village wasn't on fire? Or should they let the insult pass? Gaara signaled Naruto to let him know that it would be petty to pay the Hatake back when they had much bigger things to worry about.

Like the reason they were in Kakashi's temporary home.

Tsunade had asked them both to act as bodyguards for Shay since she could predict attacks, yet couldn't defend herself due to her condition. That and Tsunade was well aware of how Kakashi felt towards the young woman. He'd made no secret of his paranoid delusions, but the lay fifth wanted someone to keep an eye on the Copy nin anyways...

To keep him from doing something stupid. Like eliminating a very powerful bloodline because he couldn't see beyond the tip of his nose.

Naruto finally took the initiative and cocked his head a little bit to the left and grinned his famous kitsune grin and said, "We are?" In a surprised tone. Causing Hatake to glare at him before growling.

"You know damn well you are, brat."

"Hey, there's no need for name calling-" Naruto said in a mock hurt tone as he brushed by Kakashi and walked over to the bed where Shay was sleeping and leaned over her a little and smiled before saying, "We will both be married men soon after all," A soft smile curved Naruto's lips as he grasped Kakashi's bed sheets and pulled them up and tucked them around Shay's shoulders before saying, "She won't sleep like this for much longer."

"Thank god-" Kakashi said in a relieved tone. Maybe if he was nice one of the two kids would take the damndable woman off of his hands for good. "When she wakes up, I'll feed her then one of you can get her the hell out of my home."

Gaara's lips twitched slightly as Naruto snorted and muttered, "Sensei if I didn't know better I'd think you were afraid of our future wife."

Kakashi flushed at what Naruto was insinuating and started to snap out some childish reply like, "I'm not afraid, you're afraid." But managed to bite his tongue in time to keep his dignity as a grown man intact. Not that the grin on Naruto's face didn't tell him that he knew just what Kakashi wanted to say.

_The cheeky little brat. _Kakashi thought as he growled at the blonde in irritation as Gaara seemed to tire of their bickering and moved to his kitchen where he found the apples that Kakashi had carved Naruto's and Sakura's names into, and frowned.

What the devil was this? Gaara wondered as he picked up a few pieces of the 'killed' apples with the letters of Naruto's name on it and put it back together the best he could and then turned his head and gave the Copy nin (who was now arguing with his former student) an exasperated look as the two continued to argue back and forth.

"Are too!" Naruto said almost gleefully as Kakashi sputtered with outrage before almost bellowing,

"I am not!"

Gaara rolled his eyes and began searching through the dishes for a bowl to put the smushed up apple in as he thought, _My god, I'm in the presence of two of the greatest nins I've ever had the honor to know; and they've been reduced to mere bickering children. What's next? Hair pulling and biting?  
_

"You're both idiots." Gaara said as he finally found what he was looking for and used his hand to sweep up the mess on the counter, into the bowl. Both nins fell silent for a second as they glanced over at Gaara then resumed their argument as if he had never spoken at all.

"Kakashi's afraid of a girl!" Naruto practically shouted as he bounced around on the balls of his feet while Kakashi tried to catch him so that he could strangle him as he venomously denied everything.

"I am not afraid of that damned woman!"

Naruto stopped moving and tilted his head as his ears picked up a soft moaning sound coming from the bed and gave Kakashi another kitsune grin, his eyes becoming slits as he did so. Kakashi froze, his heart started to pound in his chest as Naruto said, "So you're really not afraid of her?"

"N-No." Kakashi said evenly, somehow managing to keep his voice from squeaking as he thought, _But you're really freaking me out. _

"So you won't mind proving that you're not afraid." It wasn't a question, it was a challenge. One that Kakashi felt he couldn't back down from despite knowing that he was being baited.

"What do you have in mind?" He asked in an almost growling tone causing Naruto to smirk evilly. _Uh-oh. _That was never a good sign.

"Before Shay wakes up, you're going to plant a nice loving kiss on her."

"I'm going to what?!" Kakashi all but shouted. Gaara didn't bother turning around since he could already picture the man pulling his hair out... The Kage's shoulder's started to shake with barely suppressed amusement as he slapped a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

Oh! Naruto was just evil sometimes.

"You're going to kiss her." Naruto said in a sing song voice, looking rather pleased with himself as Kakashi got the I'd-rather-eat-a-kunai look on his masked face for a moment before giving in with a resigned sigh.

"Does it matter where?" The Copy nin asked in a tone that sounded like it was close to tears, making Naruto smirk again.

"The lips."

"I'm sorry did you say the cheek?"

"Nope, I said the lips."

"Damn." Kakashi muttered darkly before pushing past Naruto as he said, "It's time's like this that I miss you're ADD."

"Phtt. I got over that ages ago. And besides if I still had it now, you'd be dead." Kakashi gave Naruto a mean look, though the kid had a point he hated to admit it. Turning back to the challenge at hand (and knowing that there was going to be one hell of an awful penalty if he didn't go through with it) he walked quietly over to his bed and glanced nervously from Shay to Naruto.

The woman looked so fragile and vulnerable in her current state that it tugged at his heart strings just looking at her. Reaching up cautiously, he slipped his fingers into the top hem of his mask and tugged the material down to rest just under his chin and shot another nervous glance in Naruto's direction. The teen gave him a cheery smile and a thumbs up, and Kakashi had the almost irresistible urge to throw something at him for looking so damned happy.

However he could do that once he was done.

Yeah, once this was out of the way- he'd drag Naruto outside and use him for target practice. Pushing everything else from his mind, he slowly leaned over Shay. His mis matched eyes focused on her lips.

They looked so soft and inviting... And it had been a while since he'd last tasted a woman. Licking his lips, he felt this strange fluttering sensation in the pit of his stomach and shuddered. Almost there. He was almost home free. His mouth was now just mere inches from Shay's own when she moaned softly and started to stir causing Kakashi's mind to automatically fly into a panic.

_Abort mission! Abort mission! And P.S. Kill Naruto! _

Shay's eyes fluttered and opened and he froze in mid escape as she let out a blood curtling scream that he was sure would deafen him a moment before her hand shot out and struck him as she yelled, _"Pervert!"_


	59. Chapter 59

**_Sorry for all the waiting around kittens- But the world is ending and I don't have my trusty shot gun. _**

**_My latest doctor's visit was no help, health wise. _**

**_And to top shit off I found out that my 14 yr old baby cousin has been sold into prostitution by her fuckwad mother. And no one is doing anything to help her because apparently having a child sexually abused is so much better than being yelled at. Because everyone is apparently allergic to conflict._**

**_Frankly I'm disgusted with the whole situation so I send an anon e-mail to the CPS. Hopefully something will come of it. And my cousin will be taken away from her legal guardian and kept away from her mom and everyone else. _**

**_Better that she grow up in a foster home than grow up ruined for life. _**

**_Anyways...sorry for the wait. Here is the next chap of Heirs. I don't think it'll be a long one but at least you'll have something._**

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Naruto was still howling with laughter a good ten minutes after Shay had awoken to find Kakashi's face a mere hairs breath from her own and slapped him hard enough to rattle his teeth for his transgression. As Gaara placed the crushed apples that he had found on Kakashi's counter and put in a bowl, in Shay's lap so that she could eat something since she was undoubtedly famished by now.

Kakashi sat in the corner of the room glaring at the woman as he absently rubbed his face where she had hit him and tried to inspire fear in her with his unblinking stare. It wasn't working of course. And she was glaring back at him like she'd like to squish him like a bug.

No scratch that. She was glaring at him like he was a pile of shit that she had stepped in.

She had such a disgusted look on her pretty face that it was a wonder it didn't freeze with that expression on it.

The thought was amusing. Almost amusing enough for him to try and crack a smile. And he would have cracked a smile if not for the searing, throbbing pain in his cheek. "Honestly what the hell did you think you were doing? You're a grown man for crying out loud, not a horny teenager!" Shay growled at him as Gaara reached out and tapped her hand to indicate that she had something she could now use to eat.

She looked down at the little fork and then at the red head as if to ask, _What do I do with it?_ Causing Gaara to roll his eyes and motion to the bowl. "Eat." He mouthed, opting to remain silent so that he wouldn't interrupt her amusing little lecture.

"I told you-" Kakashi said from between clenched teeth._ "I. Fell."_

"And I don't believe that one little bit," Shay countered. "If you're going to lie to me then at least make the lie believable." Kakashi's hand slipped from his face, down to where he kept his kunai. One more word outta miss know it all and he'd likely give in to the urge to throw one at her.

Thanks to the anger and rage he was feeling at the moment, he wasn't the least bit concerned with about getting her blood on his bed. Or the floor. Or much of anything else for that matter. "Who the hell would want to kiss you?" Kakashi snarled, not really caring if he hurt her feelings or not.

Shay had been about to take a bite of food but decided that she had another use for it and hurled it across the room where it splattered all over Kakashi's shocked face as she climbed out of his bed and snarled back, "And who the fuck would want to kiss a surly son of a bitch like you?"

Kakashi's left eye twitched as Shay started to stomp past him before pausing long enough to kick him in the shin causing his hand to go for one of his kunai before he could manage to stop himself. His thoughts somewhere along the lines of, _Damned irritating woman. She's so vexing! I want to put a few knives in her. _Just to teach her a lesson.

Gaara and Naruto glanced at each other as Shay stormed out of Kakashi's tent after her violent little display and both young men inwardly cringed. _Ouch. _Poor Kakashi.

Naruto sighed. Looks like he would have to explain his part in the current mess his emotionally crippled former sensei had caused. Blowing some of his blond bangs out of his face he started to get up when he heard Gaara whisper, "Make sure to wear a cup." And gave his adopted brother a questioning look as Gaara moved some of his clothing and rapped on his crotch so that Naruto could hear the faint wooden sound.

Naruto gaped at him for a moment as Gaara fixed his clothing and stared at him before mouthing, "Just to be safe."

There was a story there, Naruto mused as he stood to his full height and started out after Shay. Making a mental note to ask Gaara why he was wearing a cup later.


	60. Chapter 60

Once outside the tent, Shay couldn't hold back the prickling heat of unshed tears that were currently stinging her eyes and obsessively wiped at them with the back of her hand while she thought, _Dammit!_ Why did she have to marry someone as horrible natured as that silver haired freak?! Why couldn't the other person she wound up married too be more like Naruto? He was kind, compassionate, and even sweet- in his own awkward and bumbling way. Surely what remained of the village had no shortage of unwed men with similar qualities?

Hell, she'd even marry Gaara if someone let her. Who knew, maybe between herself, him and Naruto- none of them would feel compelled to murder one another. But _noooo_, she wound up being thrust upon a man who didn't mind settling down with her and found her relatively pleasing to be around and another man who absolutely hated her guts...

It was sad to say but she felt the same way toward the damned brute. So when their honeymoon came up she'd probably smother him with a pillow after he preformed his marital duties.

The bastard.

"Shay," She heard Naruto's voice as he ran up behind her and lightly, but firmly grasped her wrist and pulled her to a stop as she quickly bowed her head to keep him from seeing that she was crying. "Hey. Are you alright?" Naruto asked in a gentle tone that nearly made her want to scream.

_No she was not alright?!_ So why the devil did people bother asking her such stupid questions when she felt so emotionally raw? Was everyone an idiot?

"Shay." Naruto said in a firmer tone as he tried to get her to look at him, a frown marring his features as he managed to bend down a bit and see her face clearly enough to know that she was crying and sighed. Crap, he hadn't meant for his prank on Kakashi to end up like it had. Nor had he meant to have his former sensei hurt her feelings. It was just- just that ever since he and the Copy Nin had been ordered to take Shay as their wife and secure any bloodline limits and abilities that she possessed for the village, he had looked forward to actually _having_ a family for once.

Whereas Kakashi had done nothing but make an ass out of himself time and time again. He'd known that the man was untrusting of Shay. But Tsunade's order's were absolute in this. So why was he being so deliberately cruel? Naruto didn't get it, but he was damn well getting fed up with Kakashi's childish behavior. So much so that he just might take a stick to his hide if he didn't knock it off.

That is if Gaara didn't beat him to it once he learned that Shay had been crying.

Using his fingers to grip her chin, he lifted her face and gently wiped her eyes with his other hand as he said, "Listen, don't take anything that sensei said to you- to heart. And as for the kissing thing, if you want to be mad at someone then be mad at me. I goaded him into trying to kiss you while you slept because of our situation." Shay's eyes flickered to him and her expression became one of disbelief before shifting straight into fury.

"You- You started that shit?! What on god's green earth ever possessed you to- Omph!" Shay's furious tirade was cut off by Naruto very calmly placing his hand over her mouth to silence her as he gave her a blank look before replying in an infuriatingly male manner that set her teeth on edge.

"Like I said before. It has to do with our current situation... Look, you aren't going to be married to just me. You're going to be married to Kakashi too. Which means that you'll have two husbands- twice the duties to preform while raising the baby, exct. However being the last of our respective clans, both Kakashi and I have very different needs. Most of which involve either ceremony or something else entirely due to our abilities and inherited bloodline limits. Kakashi's are far stronger than my own," Naruto said as he finally figured that he had enough of her attention to remove his hand from her mouth before she decided to try and rip his arm off or something.

"It's for part of that that he appears so mean tempered and mistrusting of you. His urges are a lot like impulses. Some you can control and some control you. In this instance, when it comes to you- Kakashi can't control himself very well. His impulses practically scream; _Danger!_ Whenever he's close to you, so...uh-" Naruto trailed off as he tried to think of if he had explained things right or if he should dumb things down a bit. But Shay seemed to understand what he was saying more or less.

She was a smart gal, after all.

"So basically you're saying that he has the impulse control of a toddler and I shouldn't entertain any notions of premeditated murder."

Naruto gave her a faint smile and nodded his head, "Yeah that about sums it up."

"Fine. But when he goes terrible two's- I'm not changing his frigging diapers!" Shay growled as she leaned into his personal space a bit and placed her hand on his chest, right over his heart and then shoved him hard enough to send him sprawling to the ground on his ass before she huffed and turned and stomped off, away from him as he stared at her back and grinned.

Well. At least his and Kakashi's married life would never be boring.


	61. Chapter 61

**Sorry for the wait- but I wanted to update this part the right way since it's been so long.**

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Gaara was still in Kakashi's tent, glaring daggers at the silver haired man when Naruto returned and blinked at the two before Gaara asked, "How is she?" The blond sniggered and stepped through the flap and made his way over to Kakashi and looked down at him. The elder tipped his head back and snarled at him,

"_Yes. How is the little darling_?" His tone practically dripping with venom might have phased a lesser man, but not Naruto. No, Naruto just smiled pleasantly at him, making sure to show off his pearly white little fangs as he replied,

"She's upset, but if we give her a little bit she'll be fine," Naruto said as he made his way over to Gaara and then sat down and stared at Kakashi for several seconds as the man continued to pick apple mush out of his hair and wipe his face. "You know sensei, I never thought I'd see a day when you started acting like a little kid on the playground." The blond said with a sigh, causing the Hatake to stiffen up and send a fierce glower at him as he continued speaking in a slightly bored tone, "I mean, really, is the little wolfy that scared of getting cooties?" Kakashi made a loud rumbling growling sound, hoping to warn his former student off of this particular subject.

He wasn't little. And he sure as shit wasn't afraid of getting cooties!

It was just _her_- that- that woman.

Whenever he was near her, something about her sent all logic out the window. Leaving him nothing to go on but really, really, _really_ agitated instinct. Which meant that he just happened to get mean about things when he usually wouldn't. He knew that his behavior towards Shay wasn't exactly her fault. But getting him to admit it would be the same as pulling teeth from a crocodile.

The hand goes in and- _oh_...yeah it stays in because it was just bitten off.

It wasn't a perfect system, but it was one that had worked for him all his life. So naturally he was reluctant to reign things in. Even if it might help him develop some semblance of a relationship with Shay since she was going to be his wife.

Besides, he wasn't the lovey-dovey kind of person anyways. He was a _I'll-stand-here-with-my-nose-in-a-porn-book-and-pretend-I'm-not-interested-in-you_ type of person. So of course his relationship with Shay would be...uh...off. Especially if he was snapping and snarling at her all the damned time. Still- A pair of fingers snapped in front of his face, jolting him out of his thoughts to look up into the humorless eyes of his former student.

"Did you hear me?" The blond asked in a strangely quiet tone as Kakashi blinked and then glanced towards Gaara- or to be more accurately put, towards where the young Kage had been. Right now Gaara was all the way across the room, his facial expression somewhat comical, his eyes wide and- was that a hint of fear in them? _What the hell did he have to be afraid of? _Kakashi wondered as Naruto slid his hands around his neck as if he were going to hug him, causing the elder shinobi to stiffen to the point where his whole body was locked as Naruto leaned down until his face was a few scant inches from his own.

Kakashi flushed, his mis matched eyes going wide as he tried to move back a little bit as he saw azure blue eyes bleed to crimson. _Oh crap- _He thought as Naruto breathed almost against his lips, "I said, you really need to work on your relationship with Shay. You may not like her now, but once you really get to know her- she may turn out to be just your type."

Kakashi made a funny strangled sound in the back of his throat as Naruto gave him his famous kitsune grin then abruptly released him, causing the man to topple over where he sat in utter shock while Naruto made his way back over to the tent flap and slipped out without another word. Geez that man needed so much help it just wasn't even funny. Naruto thought as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and started walking.

Inside the tent Kakashi took several moments to process what had just happened when it occurred to him that Naruto had just more or less kissed him and he let out a frightening bellow of rage startling Gaara who's only though at the moment had been, _Damn I should have taped that for Temari._


	62. Chapter 62

**Continuing from the previous chapter-**

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"He kissed me," The shocked words were as loud as a drum banging close to his ear as the silver haired man jumped up and started pacing while continuing to utter over and over again in a more and more puzzled/furious tone, "He kissed me! I can't believe this shit. Why would he kiss me? I'm not gay-" Hell he wasn't even Bi. The red head remained silent and unmoving as he watched the Hatake warily.

So... It seemed that the man had never fallen victim to one of Naruto's kisses before. How strange. Gaara thought. It would appear that his friend had been hiding certain..._things _about himself. How peculiar.

Usually Naruto didn't hide such aspects of his personality. He had been openly displaying them for all to see ever since he had started to mature as a genin back when they had fought when they had been thirteen. But perhaps because of who the Copy nin was Naruto may have felt that it was necessary to hide away some of the more, uh, _uncomfortable_ parts of his personality since most people tended to find such things peculiar or unhealthy in some way or another.

And perhaps to an extent seeing a straight guy kissing another would be considered strange. But luckily Gaara knew why Naruto had done what he had done before he had left. Which meant that as usual Gaara had been abandoned holding the bag.

Sighing, he shifted slightly where he was sitting. Why was Naruto always leaving him to explain things and clean up his messes? Sure he'd done the same thing to the blond a few times, but those times had never been anything like this.

"Kakashi-san," Gaara said softly as the man walked right by him still muttering and pacing. Working himself into a fit of temper. _He's going to give himself another heart attack_. Gaara thought as the elder walked past him again as he started to reach out to grasp his hand and stop him. All the Hatake's pacing around was starting to make him feel dizzy. "Kakashi-san." He said again, a little bit louder than last time as the man started to pass him again.

Mis matched eyes flickered in his direction and for a moment Gaara felt as if he had succeeded in catching the mans attention before he went back to his stupid pacing. Growling low in his throat in warning he waited until Kakashi was about to walk by him again and used his sand to hog tie the nin before he knew what was going on. Hell he didn't even have time to let out a yelp as Gaara's sand practically jerked his legs out from under him, toppling him over like a bunch of children's building blocks, as it wound around him like a snake and held him firmly in place as the red head gave him an icy glare and asked in a chilling tone, "Do I have you're attention now?"

He was bound on the floor by sand... Sand of all the silly things! Of course the brat had his damned attention.

It was on the tip of Kakashi's tongue to ask Gaara if he was planning to molest him too when the red head crossed his arms over his chest and said, "First of all, no. You aren't my type. Second of all, if you would just settle down and let me explain what just happened then perhaps you might understand Naruto better." Kakashi stared at the younger man almost wide eyed and quickly nodded his head. Oh yes, he wanted to know what the hell the kiss had been about. Among other things. "To begin with I shouldn't have to explain to you how Naruto grew up-" Kakashi narrowed his eyes a little bit then growled out,

"No."

"Good. Now, let me try to word this right. There are two absolute reasons why Naruto would so brazenly kiss someone like you. One is to reaffirm your bond. And the second reason would be to warn you in a way without using violence." At Kakashi's 'what' like expression Gaara sighed and once again tried to explain things from the beginning. "Look basically it's a system he worked out when he started to mature and became recognized as more than just a demon container. He kisses his friends to show his affection for them while using it as another, silent means of communication. A kiss on the hand means, he doesn't trust you."

"While a kiss on the cheek could mean any number of things from respect to friendship. But a kiss on the mouth is different, especially if he's upset or bothered- Which he is." Gaara said as he glared down at the immobile Hatake before saying, "He's been trying his hardest to help you begin to have a fairly decent relationship with Shayera and you've done nothing but mess things up at every turn... It's unlike you, and it's upsetting him. _A lot_."

"What the hell are you talking about? I haven't done anything to- MMMMPH!" Kakashi was silenced by some sand covering his mouth and merely decided to glare daggers at the red head.

"Naruto may seem like his typical normal self to you, but that's only because he's learned to hide his temper well in these past few years while he was away from the village training. Couple that with the fact that he knows specific things about you and your bloodline- as well as to the reason why you're so against marrying Shayera- and he has everything figured out. Not only that but he's already resigned himself to his fate and stepped into the role of 'husband'... You need to stop acting like an rabid animal before he gets so fed up with your behavior that he decides to beat it out of you. And at this point, I really think that would be a humiliating fight- for you." Gaara said as he slowly got to his feet and headed for the tent opening, and was long gone before his sand released Kakashi otherwise the man just might have attacked him.

He walked along the rows and rows of temporary homes absently, not really paying attention to where he was going since he had no real destination in mind until he found Naruto. The younger teen was sitting underneath a large tree just within sight of the destroyed village with his back against the tree's trunk with one leg drawn up and an arm resting casually on his knee.

His eyes were fixated on the large crater that Pein had created with his jutsu. Gaara moved in closer and almost paused when he saw Naruto tilt his head to the side slightly, giving him the smallest glimpse of crimson eyes and slitted pupils. Ah, so Kurama had come out tonight. That explained some of Naruto's behavior today. He always tended to get very mischievous when the demon was riding him for some freedom. "Did you explain everything?" Naruto asked in a normal tone that made Gaara blink.

What the hell? Since when could Naruto maintain his conscious mind and control of himself when the demon was out?

Just how strong had his friend become? He wondered as he came up to the tree and stopped when he noted that Naruto wasn't exactly alone. There, hidden in the shadows of the limbs that barely filtered moonlight, was Shay. Slumped against Naruto's side, her head resting on his shoulder. Wrapped up in his jacket, fast asleep. "I explained everything that I could explain at this point." Gaara replied after a moment or so.

Naruto made a low humming sound and leaned his head to the side again in the same motion that Gaara had seen only moments ago and had thought it was the blond signaling him to come closer, when in actuality it was his friend's way of rubbing his cheek against the top of Shay's head. "So then he doesn't know about what will happen to him, after we marry Shay." It wasn't exactly a question, merely a stated fact.


	63. Chapter 63

**Happy mother's day ya'll. Sorry for the late update but I finally figured that it was time to get on with the wedding. **

**So without further ado, here is Heirs.**

**P.S. my mind is going everywhere, so forgive me if the chapter is short. And if it is, I'll add several follow up chapters until the wedding is done.**

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Several days later-

Naruto was sound asleep outside of Shay's tent after having made himself a little bit of a pest because he was still technically upset with Kakashi (and so had decided to avoid him) before he gave into the strong temptation to throttle the man._ I mean seriously_, Naruto fell asleep thinking just the night before, _since when had his former sensei regressed into a weird child/cranky old man...thingy? _Honestly, Shay had never done anything to really set him off otherwise the Copy nin would have murdered her by now, Hokage's order's or not. So really, what was his problem?

**The problem with the mutt is purely psychological.** Kyubbi said in a bored tone as he snorted in his sleep and just sort of flopped over onto the ground to curl up on the grass, thus finally doing something about the horrible crick in his neck as the Kyubbi continued to speak. **It has everything to do with the suppressed instincts that he carries. Not to mention that your current situation and impending marriage to the female is awakening those suppressed instincts more or less against his will.**

That was all well and good, but it was nothing that Naruto didn't already fundamentally understand.

After all, he had studied various things about the clans of the leaf village and learned a lot of interesting facts that varied from living conditions to culture about pretty much every fucking clan that toted around bloodline limits and dormant abilities. And from what he had observed of Shay so far and from information he had gleaned from his few talks with Gaara, his and Kakashi's future bride could see...well, the future.

A handy little trick to be sure especially with Madara out for her (not to mention everyone else's ) blood. But apparently it wasn't all she could use the ability for since she had been speaking with him just the night before when she'd had a vision, halting their conversation for a few minutes as she stared blankly ahead at him without blinking before finally seeming to come back to herself.

It had worried him at first.

But when he'd asked her if she was okay, she had merely nodded and asked him if it was okay if she turned in for the night. Not really understanding the sudden change in behavior, but figuring that it must have something to do with her vision (like perhaps it had exhausted what energy she'd had left) then Naruto had quietly helped her to bed, trying to take as much care as he could not to be to noisy or annoying with his fussing and hovering since different people responded to such behavior differently.

Besides he didn't want to offend Shay by making her think that he thought she was weak. Not when she woke up each day not knowing what horrors she'd see next with her visions. Nuh-ugh. No way. No how.

He held nothing but respect for the woman and if anybody ever thought otherwise...then it would be obvious to him that they were trying to get him killed. And that wouldn't end well for them. Not one little bit. Especially since he was sort of looking forward to being a husband and father. There was just something about Shay that made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And he'd asked himself more than once in the short time since they had met if perhaps it was some latent- hidden or unknown?- ability she carried within her that made him feel this way.

He couldn't help but think that that feeling must be what it was like to belong... To a family. An actual honest to god family. Complete with someone who for better or worse (may or may not) love him.

Perhaps it was a bit greedy of him.

But he didn't care. To him marrying Shay and becoming a husband and father was almost like one of the greatest adventures he could ever embark on, and he hoped that the feeling of warmth and belonging that he felt when he was near her, never faded.

Smiling a little in his sleep, he curled up on his side a little more, drawing his knees to his chest and made a soft purring sound as he thought. _To live even one dream... Such a precious gift... _

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_Tsunade looked at the nins that she had summoned to the meeting she'd had with the other Kage's and noted with some amusement that Temari and Kankuro, Konohamaru, Kurinai and her infant son Asuma Jr.- Sai, Tenzou, Sakura, Ino and the rest of Naruto and Kakashi's friends were all present and accounted for. Including others aside from the sand nins that also happened to be from other villages. _

_"Are the preparations almost complete?" She asked, indicating to Sakura and Temari to report on the wedding preparations that they had all been working on in secret after Gaara had told Tsunade that they should hurry before Kakashi killed Shayera or vice versa. The two young women stepped forward and quickly reported that Naruto/Shay/Kakashi's wedding preparations were indeed almost done and should be completed within just a few more hours. _

_The area where the ceremony was to be held had been decorated in the most beautiful flowers and lanterns, the food for the reception was perfect, and each of the women had taken turns gathering materials and making Shay's wedding gown for the ceremony. _

_Once they were done reporting, Tsunade then assigned the really hard part to the men present. _

_Capture Hatake Kakashi and Uzumaki Naruto and see to it that they were properly washed, clothed and at the ceremony on time. _

_Nothing could go wrong on this day or so help her there would be blood._


End file.
